Expanding Table in Walnut

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Villa Park, CA
Here's a Walnut expanding table that I made for a friend. She wanted a small round table that would go in her dining area (small dining area) but wanted it to be able to expand. I built this round table with two 12" leaves. The table closed is 41" in diameter.

The apron matches when the table is closed. I discussed this with her and she felt that she'd use the table closed more than open, and would probably have a table cloth on it when it was open. I discussed the possiblity of not putting apron parts on the leaves but I find that people hit their legs on the corner of the apron if the leaves don't have apron parts (to make the apron continuous).

I designed the legs "after" a picture she gave me of a table leg she liked. That leg was too "much" so I talked her into a simpler look with that long tapered section.

I'd appreciate your comments and suggestions.

Mike
 

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Mike, those are some nice looking legs.

The legs and aprons are also Walnut, right?
Thanks for your comments. Yes, it's all walnut.

I used a water based poly on the table top for durability and a solvent based wipe on poly on the legs and apron. There's a slight color difference in the finishes - but the wood's all the same.

Mike
 
I used commercial table glides (extension hardware). They're wood and I think I bought them from Lee Valley. The reason I don't remember is that I bought them long ago for another table but needed longer extension and had to buy another set - so I used them in this table.

Mike
 
Mike, you do nice work, I'm sure any of us would be proud to have such a nice table grace our dining rooms :clap:

I'm sure your friend is "Tickled Pink" as my Mum says :D

Kind of a shame to cover it up with a tablecloth! :)

Thanks for showing it to us.

Cheers!
 
Nice work on that table, how many hours do you think you put in it?
Thanks, Yann. It took me about three weeks of clock time, but I had another project that snuck in that I worked on for about a week in that time. Let me see if I can figure out what time it took. Remember that I'm retired so a day is not 8 hours for me.

One day for stock preparation and glue up of the top. [One thing I should mention is that I did the preparation of the top at school and they have this GIANT sanding machine that allowed me to sand the pieces for the top to get them flat after glue up (the boards are always a bit out of alignment) and to make sure they were the same thickness. A super time saver.]
One day for cutting the top round and for cutting the leaves.
One day for stock preparation for the legs (including glue up) and the aprons.
One day for turning the legs.
One day for cutting the mortises and tenons and gluing up the aprons to the legs.
One day for trial fitting of the bottom and the glides and deciding that the aprons across the table were too short.
One day to re-do the aprons across the table (cut the old ones out, re-do the mortise, prepare the apron tenons, and glue up.
One day for final fitting, attaching the apron parts on the leaves, and sanding of the top.
One day for finishing.
One day for rub out of the whole thing.

There's a few things that I didn't mention, like shaping the edge of the top and sanding the parts prior to glue up but they fit in to the time above. The list adds up to about 10 days of work time, maybe 4-5 hours per day.

That's all I can remember.

One thing I regret is that I didn't do a better job of "book matching" the two leaves. They're more like a repeat instead of a book match. I was working too fast that day and wasn't thinking ahead.

Mike
 
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One day for stock preparation for the legs (including glue up) and the aprons.
One day for turning the legs.
One day for cutting the mortises and tenons and gluing up the aprons to the legs.
One day for trial fitting of the bottom and the glides and deciding that the aprons across the table were too short.
One day to re-do the aprons across the table (cut the old ones out, re-do the mortise, prepare the apron tenons, and glue up.
One day for final fitting, attaching the apron parts on the leaves, and sanding of the top.
One day for finishing.
One day for rub out of the whole thing.

There's a few things that I didn't mention, like shaping the edge of the top and sanding the parts prior to glue up but they fit in to the time above. The list adds up to about 10 days of work time, maybe 4-5 hours per day.

That's all I can remember.

One thing I regret is that I didn't do a better job of "book matching" the two leaves. They're more like a repeat instead of a book match. I was working too fast that day and wasn't thinking ahead.

Mike
Hi Mike :wave:,
Thanks for sharing this lovely table. It is amazing to me all the different processes you had to go through to get to this finished piece. Start with the desires of the client, then the design that will work. Procuring the materials and then just moving things around to allow you to work the magic you do. It is very fine!
The only part that makes me look twice, questioning the pleasing appeal, is the table extended with the leaves in. The boards in the leaves each have an individual center, As you noticed.

I too experience this "after thought", often later than desire, when there is no turning back!:dunno:. There is so much to consider in building a piece like this, I am sure. You did a great job and thanks for showing this. You are always an inspiration. Thank you!
Shaz :)
Aprons on the leaves, just another set of problems you a had solve:doh:. Did you use pocket screws or just "more magic"?:D
 
Hi Mike :wave:,
Thanks for sharing this lovely table. It is amazing to me all the different processes you had to go through to get to this finished piece. Start with the desires of the client, then the design that will work. Procuring the materials and then just moving things around to allow you to work the magic you do. It is very fine!
The only part that makes me look twice, questioning the pleasing appeal, is the table extended with the leaves in. The boards in the leaves each have an individual center, As you noticed.

I too experience this "after thought", often later than desire, when there is no turning back!:dunno:. There is so much to consider in building a piece like this, I am sure. You did a great job and thanks for showing this. You are always an inspiration. Thank you!
Shaz :)
Aprons on the leaves, just another set of problems you a had solve:doh:. Did you use pocket screws or just "more magic"?:D
Thank you for your kind words, Shaz. My problem is that I do one of a thing so each one is a learning curve. As is true for each of us, the next time we make something, we learn and do better - but make the next level of mistakes.

One problem I had was getting good walnut. The stuff at the hardwood store is usually so bad that I have to really scrounge to find decent wood. What you see there was the best that I could find out of a stack of walnut. But at least they let me go through the stack and pick out what I want.

Pocket screws would have been a good idea on those apron parts. I attached the table top with figure 8 attachments, so I used those on the leaf aprons. I did put just a bit of glue on the apron parts to keep them better attached to the leaves.

Mike
 
the next time we make something, we learn and do better - but make the next level of mistakes. You do very well even though each project is a "prototype":doh:! One problem I had was getting good walnut. What you see there was the best that I could find out of a stack of walnut. But at least they let me go through the stack and pick out what I want. It is nice and personal getting to pick your lumber, glad you have a place to do that!

Pocket screws would have been a good idea on those apron parts. I attached the table top with figure 8 attachments, ( I am unfamiliar with these attachments:dunno:) so I used those on the leaf aprons. I did put just a bit of glue on the apron parts to keep them better attached to the leaves.

Mike
Hi Mike :wave:,
It really turned out nicely, do you duplicate on the lathe or do you wing it with calipers?

The table when closed shows that continuous grain of the apron, a very nice look. Did you cut a thin strip for the exterior lamination, what was you method there:huh:, and your madness?:rofl:
Enjoyed the piece, thanks
Shaz :)
 
Mike,

Great job on the table. I love walnut. Nice save, too. Nothing gives away the fact that all pieces did not work exactly as you had planned, the first time. Would have been terrible to lose some walnut and have to re-make the legs, not to mention your time. How different were the initially requested legs from the final design?

Regards,
 
Let me see if I can answer the questions posed:

Shaz - the figure 8 fasteners are a good way to attach a table top to the aprons because they allow for seasonal movement - and they're easy to use. You can see a picture of one here. If you buy in volume - say 100 at a time - they're less expensive, maybe 20 cents each.

I made a leg out of scrap - I think it was poplar - and got approval for the design. Then I just copied the leg using a 24" ruler and calipers. It's pretty easy because the legs are separated so small differences aren't noticed. But I find that I can come pretty close using just a ruler and calipers. The biggest differences are when I screw up on the lathe - maybe have a catch with the spindle gouge - and one of the flutes gets smaller.

Regarding the apron, I just select two pieces of 4/4 stock and mark them carefully so that I use one piece on one side and the other piece on the other side. I actually cut my tenons first on both ends then cut the piece in half. I just have to make sure I put those two pieces on the same side. For the leaves' aprons, I take the offcuts from the pieces I described in the previous sentence. That way, the wood for the leaves' aprons are part of the same piece as the rest of the apron. If the client wanted the aprons to match with the leaves in, it's just a matter of cutting them a bit differently.

Lee - the original request for the legs was with many more flutes - essentially flutes all up and down the leg. My opinion, and I was able to convince the client, was that it looked gaudy - that a simpler leg would look better, and that simpler usually lasted longer as far as style goes. Gaudy usually goes out of style fairly fast.

Mike
 
Beatiful table Mike!!

I'd like to make something out of walnut too, but here is so expensive that it scares me to death buying the lumber and making a stupid mistake that obliges me to throw away half of it.

I guess that sometime I'll give it a try, but not this week for sure!!:)

Thanks for showing us and all the detailed explanations.
 
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