Quarter Sawn Sycamore Coffee Table

Nice to see QS sycamore in project. Great design on the table. Really like the tusks.

The quartersawn sycamore looks great and so does your craftsmanship. I like it.

-- Hal, Tennessee http://www.first285.com

Very nice table. The wood is spot on. Great job!

-- Use it up, Wear it out --------------- Make it do, Or do without!

Great job!! Like the design.

-- Jack, Albuquerque

You really did a great job on this beautiful table. Sycamore is a recent discovery for me – an instant love at first sight! it has such subtle, or maybe subdued – well I don’t know what to call it other than the fine grains are becutiful – at close up. Back up a few feet and you can no longer see the true beauty of Sycamore! I am glad you used Sycamore for a table top mainly because as you sit close to it, you can appreciate God’s creation in this wood.

-- Paul - The sweetest sound in my shop, next to Mozart, is what a hand plane makes slicing a ribbon.

A unique design. I am a huge fan of QS Sycamore. I also love the joinery on the base. Question: my QS Sycamore doesn’t appear that dark in contrast to the maple. Did you stain/dye the sycamore to increase the contrast?

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

Thanks for looking, everyone. Gfadvm, as for the finish, I actually just used Maloof’s Poly/Oil & Wax/Oil finishes per the instructions. You can purchase it through Rockler. It was the first time I used the stuff but really liked and will definitely use it in the future.

-- Bobby, Iowa, http://brokenriverjoinery.wordpress.com/

I think you had darker colored sycamore to start with as the Maloof finish should not darken it that much.

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

That could be. I haven’t worked with enough Sycamore to see how different the raw color of the grain can be. But I’m happy with the way it turned out. Do you have any suggestions on how you finish QS Sycamore? I like the lighter color of the wood and would like to keep as close to that as possible in the finished product.

-- Bobby, Iowa, http://brokenriverjoinery.wordpress.com/

I have used shellac (NOT amber) and Deft rattle can lacquer. Neither one darkened my sycamore appreciably. I posted a few sycamore boxes you can look at as they have both finishes so you can compare.

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm