Maple Table from Hell

Determined is right. I’d have hit it with an axe. Nice job sticking with it because you produced a nice table.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

It is a nice table Charlie. Clean lines and wonderful wood grain. It does have the look of a Thorsen Table too, with the stretcher underneath.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

We’ve all been there. Well, I probably shouldn’t lump all the great crafters of this site in with me! I’ve been there and still visit frequently!

It came out great!

-- Paul, Texas

Great recovery Charlie. been there, Done that. Welcome to the club. Maybe we need T-Shirts.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

It is not the mistakes that make us who we are, it is how we respond to our mistakes.

You did a great job and I love the color of the table – very rich inviting.

And you will never forget the lessons you’ve learned from this project!

-- -- Skee from MN

Amen to that, Skee.

Thanks, all.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Though I’ve belted you and flayed you, By the livin’ Gawd that made you, You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din! (with respects to Rudyard Kipling)
I’m certain that I would have belted and flayed the table, which, while very therapeutic, would not have left the beautiful piece you now have, but rather a pile of splinters.
That wood grain is absolutely wonderful.
You’re a better man than I am, Charlie M.

(by the way, if you haven’t read that whole poem, it’s worth a look) -Shopsmithtom

-- You get no points when you punt

Yep, it’s a good one alright! Thanks.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

We have a saying here at LJs, “Good save”. And for you a very good save, thats a good looking table Charlie. Good for you. jockmike

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

I’m a big fan of Maple Charlie, and that is one beautiful looking table. I really like the concealed drawer and the grain you used in it just makes the piece flow when the drawer is open – nice job, great work!

-- The Gnarly Wood Shoppe

That’s some nice maple… at least the post didn’t read “This started out as a dining room table…”

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Vincent Van Gogh

Good one, Scott! It’s a little smaller than it started out to be, but not THAT much smaller.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Charlie -

Sounds like this table gave you some fits! I must say it is gorgeous. I really like the grain. Despite the trouble it gave you, this is a very sweet table.

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

You shouldn’t have to complain about this beautiful piece of work, except for the additional labor you had to put into it, very nice outcome!
You must have learned something about what not to do on future projects, so you’ve been rewarded with all that extra practice.
It’ll be hard to put anything in the drawer, because you’ll be coverig up that beautiful grain in the bottom.

-- Dick Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

this is a great result…(the lessons learn) and the table is great too…This reminds me of what an old friend tell me…as humans we always want to be in balance—and those moments that we dont know how to do things we are in dis-equilibrium…so we feel frustrated…(he would hold his arms out and tilt back and forth from flat to out of balance to show this)...and as we figure out the solution we are returning to equilibrium where we feeel comfortable again…but we are better off then before—-because now we have learned a valuable lesson getting back to equilibrium. (ok—-the story is better in person)...

Great result either way…

matt

-- Matt, Napa, CA...177 days to sanity...

LOL! I got the visual, Matt. Thanks!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Great table, Charlie. I spend alot of time in the shop just fixing my mistakes. Actually, my stress level has been reduced thanks to woodworking. When I make a mistake I then remain calm and figure out how to fix it.

You did a great job in matching the finish to the cabinets. Well done.

-- Fred Childs, Pasadena, CA - - - Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

Beautiful wood grain. Excellent end result. Diamonds are created under great pressure and heat, and we learn the same way. Each of the lessons you learned in this project will remain with you for life. It’s only by overcoming adversity that we can truly claim a victory.

Enough of the philosophy lessons. Great work. Great table. I would be proud to have it in my house. Look forward to seeing more of your work.

-- Greg - Charles Town, WV

hey Matt—- what about a video ?? !! :D

For the past week I’ve been thinking about this idea of dis-equilibrium as described above and the the “great save” process of woodworkers. ... Being an educator and life guide, I’m beginning to see a benefit of woodworking that has been discussed before but it just beginning to take on a new life with me:
many troubles of today lie in the “inability” to problem-solve enough to get through a difficult time. Many people just are not very resilient. (and thus we have school violence, abuse in the home -with children, with spouses, with parents).
So I’m thinking, if we can teach our children woodworking skills – and not just the “how to’s” but the “how to create a great save”, we can give our children the gift of a life time. Keep at it, keep thinking, keep trying something new, keep resolving issues that come up and don’t give up!.
The difference can be firewood vs a beautiful table as seen here.

Thank you Charlie for helping me clarify my “insight”.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

The wood and finish are very nice and your story is like one right out of a book of my woodworking trials and tribulations(if I had a book). LOL. You did an excellent job of overcoming those problems and I can’t see anything that would have been visual to tell the story on this table. Thanks for sharing your experience.

-- Jesus is Lord!

Nicely done. I dream up a lot of ideas and try them out to see if they work and end up throwing out a good percentage of them if they don’t turn out how I like. I can only do this because I mill all the wood myself and would never do that with nice stock like you have used here. Congratulations for sticking with it.

-- Ron, Twain Harte, Ca. Portable on site Sawmill Service http://westcoastlands.net/Sawmill.html http://westcoastlands.net/SawBucks2/phpBB3

I like it!

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.canterburybaptist.org/

I’ll say nice save. It’s a pretty sweet table.

-- Measure twice!!

beautiful work ,,.. love the wood

-- ..... art for lifes sake

Hi Charlie,

I am catching up on past projects. You did a good job of adding details on this project. You could have made this into firewood after the first couple of challenges but this simply gave you an opportunity to add additional details to the piece. And in the end it came out pretty good.

You persevered and won.

Nice project.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Charlie, that is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. You should just ship it to me, and i’ll take it off your hands so nobody else can put it down. The grain is too wild to be taken seriously and the finish is too perfect to be believed to be man-applied. I wish my projects came out that bad. You should be ashamed to have blinded us with that grain. (just joking, it’s the most beautiful grain in the world. I can only begin to dream about making something that nice.) but if you want to ship it to me, that would be ok too. Thanks. Brad.

-- so much wood, so little time. Bradford.

LOL Bradford. Thanks.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

It was a nice opportunity to see your old project where you overcame some mistakes with patience and perseverance. This was a good motivation for us not to give up even if you make some mistakes. Your table is really so good. I am aware that I have not posted any projects for some time. The truth is after seeing so many beautiful projects I have decided to equip myself with certain essential tools and material before sending a post. Many things are not available in my country at present. I am trying my best to do something. LJ has given me lot of insight in woodworking. Thanks for buddys like you and others.
Sharad

-- patanjali

I love Tiger Maple and you really made it come to life with that stain you applied !!! Is it my old eyeballs or did you laminate the legs to make them thicker ? I’ve done that with Cherry in the past instead of buying 6/4 or 8/4 stock….I didn’t even notice the drawer until you opened it for us and boy is that drawer bottom beautiful !! : ) Great table and I bet that this was the size that you had in mind right from the very start !!! Have a great day : )

-- Dusty56@comcast.net

You’re right, Dusty. I didn’t have any thick stock on hand, so I laminated the legs.

Thank you for the kind words.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"