Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Dining Table - Finished



As you can see the Dining Table is finished.  As always it took more time than estimated, but it turned out alright.  The top was dyed with General Finishes Antique Cherry and the maple legs were left natural.   The finish I used was my go-to General Finish’s Arm-a-Seal.   I used about 3 coats of gloss followed by two coats of satin. 

While this was simple build, it did have some challenges due to the size of the parts.  The most challenging operation was the bevels on the underside of the top.   The top is a little over a 1” thick, and rather than just using a chafer bit to bevel the underside I wanted something a bit more graceful.  To that end, the bevels are about 2 ½” wide leaving an apparent edge thickness of ¾”.  The hard part was handling the top on edge at the table saw.   I wouldn’t recommend the operation, but with a tall auxiliary fence and a couple of feather-boards it wasn’t quite as difficult as I expected.  I then used my smoothing plane to clean the bevels up.

Before I began my next major project, the corner china cabinet, I am going to go ahead complete my Christmas gifts I have planned for this year, as well as, three picture frames my wife wants completed.  BTW – the gifts I have planned are some nice boxes to hold tea-bags.  I’m using the design Robert Lang built in the last Popular Woodworking Magazine.  I plan on making 5 of them.  Let’s see if I can get them all done before Christmas.

Thanks for Stopping by,

TexWood