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Red Oak Trestle Table
- Thread starter Mantis806
- Start date
Thank you for all of the great feedback!
The table it relatively heavy. The good thing is that it can all disassembled and "flat packed." The top is the heaviest. I'm estimating it to be about 200lbs. I don't mind the weight because I hate the feeling of a"flimsy" table.
I looked at a lot of different dining tables to draw inspiration. I watched a lot of videos from Homestead Craftsman on YouTube. Ultimately, it came down to my wife picking something that she liked and me making my own modifications to it. My main goal was to eliminate the four leg design (farm table?) Therefore, a trestle concept was the default design choice. I also really liked the breadboard ends, so I knew I had to integrate that into the design. Overall, I had no concept of proper proportions other than Googling "proper" dining table size and height.
For the joinery, I was pretty lost. I didn't know if I was going to do through mortises, half mortises or dominos. I watched a lot of YouTube channels and got inspired by Samurai Carpenter and Third Coast Craftsman. I saw them using a lot of wedges and I really like that style of joinery. This was actually my first time (one of many firsts) trying to make a dovetail, so doing a dovetail half lap was a fun joint. My favorite joint is probably the middle table brace with the tusked wedge. I haven't seen this used a lot in my research, but I was excited on how it would ultimately look. Cutting the angles were a challenge, but I didn't use any machines on the tusks because they were smaller and I didn't want my hand so close to the TS blade while trying to do an angled cut. I cut most of that piece by hand using a Japanese pull saw and some wood guides to keep my lines straight. Another favorite was pounding the dowels into the breadboard ends. After all of the careful prep and test fitting, I was very excited to see the dowels actually pulling the joint tighter and that I had drilled the holes correctly.
The total cost of all of the wood was a little over $900. It was probably not the most economical project, but I take some solace in guessing that this table would cost a lot more if I purchased it elsewhere of comparable quality. I dived into the project estimating the cost based on the price per board foot from my local lumber store, but I had no idea of how many board feet I would ultimately need.
The table it relatively heavy. The good thing is that it can all disassembled and "flat packed." The top is the heaviest. I'm estimating it to be about 200lbs. I don't mind the weight because I hate the feeling of a"flimsy" table.
I looked at a lot of different dining tables to draw inspiration. I watched a lot of videos from Homestead Craftsman on YouTube. Ultimately, it came down to my wife picking something that she liked and me making my own modifications to it. My main goal was to eliminate the four leg design (farm table?) Therefore, a trestle concept was the default design choice. I also really liked the breadboard ends, so I knew I had to integrate that into the design. Overall, I had no concept of proper proportions other than Googling "proper" dining table size and height.
For the joinery, I was pretty lost. I didn't know if I was going to do through mortises, half mortises or dominos. I watched a lot of YouTube channels and got inspired by Samurai Carpenter and Third Coast Craftsman. I saw them using a lot of wedges and I really like that style of joinery. This was actually my first time (one of many firsts) trying to make a dovetail, so doing a dovetail half lap was a fun joint. My favorite joint is probably the middle table brace with the tusked wedge. I haven't seen this used a lot in my research, but I was excited on how it would ultimately look. Cutting the angles were a challenge, but I didn't use any machines on the tusks because they were smaller and I didn't want my hand so close to the TS blade while trying to do an angled cut. I cut most of that piece by hand using a Japanese pull saw and some wood guides to keep my lines straight. Another favorite was pounding the dowels into the breadboard ends. After all of the careful prep and test fitting, I was very excited to see the dowels actually pulling the joint tighter and that I had drilled the holes correctly.
The total cost of all of the wood was a little over $900. It was probably not the most economical project, but I take some solace in guessing that this table would cost a lot more if I purchased it elsewhere of comparable quality. I dived into the project estimating the cost based on the price per board foot from my local lumber store, but I had no idea of how many board feet I would ultimately need.
Yes, the table to layout was a pain staking process. The boards were heavy and I was trying to get around the "unusable" material. I also tried to minimize the knots and splitting in the final product. While building the table, I did not know what color stain my wife would eventually settle on. (I wish I had know how dark it was going to be at the beginning) I tried my best to match the grain patterns and color on all adjacent boards. All that while keeping in mind that I had six boards total and three needed to be "up" and three needed to be "down".
I was also careful with grain direction on the leg glue ups. I did a bunch of reading and could not find an absolute answer on this. But when laminate two boards together to achieve desired thickness (face gluing?), I had the grain going in the same direction on both boards. But when gluing up each half of the semi circles together (edge gluing?), I alternated the grain. I guess only time will tell if this was the correct decision?
I was also careful with grain direction on the leg glue ups. I did a bunch of reading and could not find an absolute answer on this. But when laminate two boards together to achieve desired thickness (face gluing?), I had the grain going in the same direction on both boards. But when gluing up each half of the semi circles together (edge gluing?), I alternated the grain. I guess only time will tell if this was the correct decision?