Dining Table

Very nice finish! My 8 year old son standing behind me also commented on the smooth finish of the top. I use tung oil also but never had a finish come out like that. A polymerized tung oil is somethiing I will look into. thanks for sharing.

Beautiful! And well engineered also! I like how the leg assemblies form part of the top. I have not seen that before.

-- Steve - Impatience is Expensive

Great!Just do it!

Great Lookin Table

-- Jim, Kentucky

Love it. Reminiscent of A&C, some tech, great design, good wood, fine finish, wow!

-- Jim, Anchorage Alaska

Beautifull table,

Rosewood.

-- http://picasaweb.google.com/deniirawan66

Wow another winner beautiful.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

Great looking table with nic finish and choice of woods!

DUDE! That is awesome!!!!

-- http://caledoniachurchofchrist.yolasite.com/

Great work! Looks sweet!

-- Ken, "Everyday above ground is a good day!"

Cool, beautiful finish on the top.

-- If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail!

Fantastic

-- "All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then Success is sure." Mark Twain

Very very nice indeed! I will also have to take a look at polymerized tung oil. Does the polymerized tung oil come in a non-gloss finish? Can you do that, like matte or semi-gloss?

Also, expansion. Wow, 1 inch. But, doesn’t it expand in the width direction, grain direction, or are you saying it expands in the length direction of the table? I”d like to know a little more about how you took care of the expansion problem please?

-- Oshkosh, Wisconsin

Answering Diamondback:

I use polymerized tung oil from Lee Valley. They claim that you can control sheen (satin/semi-gloss/gloss) by mixing different ratios of oil to tung oil sealer, which they also sell. I found that this does not work for me. I think it might be because I do build up the finish by putting on many coats ~5 and I leave a tiny bit of excess on every coat. The instructions call for a wipe on wipe off application, which would give an “into the wood” finish and perhaps the sheen method would work. I imagine you could try rubbing the finish to dull it a little but I have never tried it and don’t know how well it would rub.

Regarding expansion now. Since solid wood expands in width and not in length, the walnut panels expand in width, which happens to be along the length of the table. From that point of view it is not different than most factory made solid wood dining tables since it is customary for such tables to have the grain in the top run at 90 degrees to the length of the table. The major difference is that factory-made tables have the top “floating” on top of the apron. With this table the top is pinched between the leg assemblies so I had to build an apron that can expand and contract with seasonal wood movement of the top. Hence the expansion joint. Have a look at the sixth picture I just added. Another expansion consideration is how to attach the extension mechanism to the table top. In this case I used screws in elongated holes in the mechanism.

Hope this helps.

-- Senomozi - Gatineau, Canada

Great! Thanks for the details! I also learned something new. I always thought wood expanded in the grain direction and not cross grain (duh, after all this time). lol I sure like your work though!

-- Oshkosh, Wisconsin