Thomas Eddolls Makes A Family Dining Table In Solid Oak
I received an enquiry from a wonderful couple for a possible commission for a family dining table, preferably in oak. The brief stated there should be suitable leg room in the height and foot room underneath the table, it had to extend to seat an extra two place settings and be thick and sturdy while also visually appealing. I said I would be delighted to present some concepts.
Design ideas
While searching through some papers I remembered a concept I had sketched out a few years back which never made it off the drawing board. After some minor adaptations, I re-sketched the idea out as the first concept to be put to the client. I never like to spend too much time on concept sketches, as a multitude of ideas could be quickly rejected by the client, so I keep a loose style to roughly outline different options. Once we have hit upon a possible solution to the brief I will often model the idea up to scale to give a better impression for everyone to visualise. Luckily on this occasion the clients were happy to explore my first proffered attempt, so rather excitedly I mocked the table up to scale using the client’s given dimensions.
I sent the client digital photos of the design concepts, drawings and models, and we all quite quickly decided upon this design. Once we were agreed, deposits were settled and the project was set to be undertaken. I had to finish off a large commission already underway before I could make a start on this new piece, and thankfully they were happy to wait.
1. An early concept drawing for the table
2. A scale model of the table
3. The solid oak timber was left in stick to condition
4. The pieces for the underframe were roughed out and shaped, then the outline was set up on the bench top
5. The legs were joined to the stretchers with Dominos and a loose tongue
6. A dry assembly of the underframe …
7. … was followed by a glue-up and clamping
Timber selection
When the time came to start work on this new adventure, my first port of call was my local timber merchants to purchase the solid oak. I am lucky enough to have a good relationship with the yard, where they are happy to let me select my boards from their stock.
On this occasion I picked out some waney-edged European oak for the table top; I selected two long boards from the middle of the tree, virtually with the pith running down the centre meaning the heartwood at either side of the ruptured centre was perfectly quartersawn in its grain orientation. This was my ideal choice for stability and also meant there would be plenty of beautiful medullary rayed figure to work with in the board match sequence.
For the underframe, I picked out a couple of boards of 75mm- thick European oak which I could shape up for the legs and stretcher rails. With the timber back at the workshop, I left it all in stick for a while to condition before I began the making process.
The underframe
When the time came to begin work, I decided to start with the underframe first. I hand-shaped suitable templates for the legs and stretcher rails, all of which were formed from true radiuses. I used the templates to mark out the thick oak boards, which were nominally planed and thicknessed just over size to be reworked after the sawing-out stage in case they bowed or sprung out due to a release of tension in the material at this point.
When I was happy with my selection I set up my bandsaw with a new sharp blade and sawed the leg curves and rail works out. Once they were roughed out I let these settle for a couple of days before finish thicknessing and then shaping on the spindle moulder. Here I used a combination of a shaped base board for
working reference, a ring fence and, at the business end, a rebate block with shear-cutting orientated knives. Working through the processes I was relatively quickly able to achieve visible results, and when I had spindled out my components, the full-sized outline of the piece was set up on my bench top. I’d decided early on that, due to budget constraints and a timeline issue, I would joint the legs to the stretchers with the Festool Domino system, which I bolstered with a routed-in loose tongue.
The stretchers were going to overlap each other with a cross halving joint. I needed the footprint to match the slightly oblong table top outline, so I kicked the angle of this joint over by 3° to stretch the underframe out slightly. I cut the joints by hand, carefully marking out with knife lines before sawing and chiselling to where I needed to be.
Once the halves were opened up I relieved the sides of the stretchers with a hand plane down to a snug fit. This technique ensures a good fit and keeps everything flat and true. There was no need for sanding as the finish from my sharp No. 7 plane would be more than adequate. Once this stage was accomplished, I assembled the underframe dry on the bench to get a look at it all.
The next job was to glue the leg frames together, pinching the legs on to the stretchers with Titebond 2. I then quickly cleaned the frames up before gluing the mating halving joint together, simply G-clamping the joint until cured. When the glue was dry, I checked everything over to make sure it was level and true before concentrating on making the extending slider frames.
8–10. The next task was to fit the extending sliders and their frames
11. The leaves for the top were prepared, matched, jointed and clamped
12. A first look at how the table was coming together
13. The table top corners were rounded off
The extending slider frames
A simple and effective method I have used before on extending tables is to utilise two thick bearers joined with parallel stretcher rails, cut carefully and accurately to length to create a uniform opening in which my slider frames can glide back and forth in a bare-faced tongue and groove.
To fit them, I grooved the bearer on the spindle moulder or router, then mated the slide frame into these grooves by rebating them in to fit. It’s worth noting here that I like to leave the slider frame proud of the bearers so the tops don’t drag when opening the table up. I bolted through the top frame into threaded inserts which I let into the top of the legs. This means the whole project can be broken down for ease of installation.
The sliding frameworks were made up with parallel stretcher rails which, once assembled, were hand-fitted into the running grooves with shoulder planes for a smooth and even fit. Once these were run in the full bases, I could move on to producing the table top.
The table top
I proceeded to open up the quartered oak on the saw and planers, cutting out any pith, splits and defects before roughly finishing the boards over size. With most of the mill marks machined away, I could get a good look at the figure and begin to match the boards together. Once I was happy with my match and I was sure I could achieve the required sizes for each table leaf, I finish-sized the boards, before jointing them together over the surface planer. I always finish this process off by hand with a freshly sharpened
No. 7 jointer, having two set up, one for any repetitive work and another set sharp and fine for finishing strokes. When this process was complete I reinforced the joints with biscuits for strength and location, before clamping the leaves together with sash clamps.
Eventually, once the glue had fully cured, I used the panel saw to finish-size the leaves. I decided to saw off a bevel relief along the outside edges – a simple detail which removes visual weight from the piece while retaining board thickness in the precious timber. At this point I could drop the tops on to the leg frame to get a first glimpse of the completed dining table.
The table top corners then needed to be rounded off for usability. On this occasion I sawed round with an angled set jigsaw, finishing with a spokeshave, block plane and finishing papers. Now I could see the true outline of the piece. The last thing to do before finishing was to create a mating joint between the leaves, which I did by routing grooves into the edges with an arbor cutter in a router and then letting in an oak tongue into the relevant grooves for the leaves to align nicely, making sure they did so in both of the usable sizes.
Finishing
Then it was a question of tackling the final clean-up before applying an oiled finish. I worked over the top in its full extension, sanding through the grits down to 240 before applying the oil. I usually put on a couple of coats before cutting back with 320-grit papers before adding the last two coats.
Gradually working through the processes, I was able to build up the oiled finish over the course of a few days until finally I was happy to deliver the piece. When the big day came round, it was beautiful and sunny. I broke the project down and squeezed it all into my car with plenty of blankets before setting off to the clients’ home. After a quick chat I set about the installation with enthusiastic vigour, which went like a dream.
Once I had screwed the tops on to the sliding frames, which I had pre-drilled in the workshop, I just needed to fit some simple oak stops to the underside and we were over the line. I was thrilled, as were the clients and I came away from the job satisfied in the knowledge that I had successfully fulfilled their brief and provided a functional family dining table that would last for many years to come.
One Response
Looks great. Congratulations.