# Sinker cypress farm table build!



## Duckhunter2007

Well Im finally getting around to make a new table for the dining room. The wife and I desided to go with the farm table style, trestle will be next haha. I went out back and pulled some select boards out of one of the wood sheds, these boards came from a 36 ft axe cut sinker cypress. Hope it turns out great, any suggestions or ideas will be appreciated. You guys enjoy.


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## Duckhunter2007

Picked out the boards that I want to use. Now time to plane them down.


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## BZawat

That's some beautiful cypress. Oughta make a nice table top!


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## Duckhunter2007

Rough cut


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## Duckhunter2007

How do you make the pictures come out straight, I'm on an IPhone.


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## Duckhunter2007

The boards have been planed and have came to life some.


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## Smith Brother

Do you have a drawing of the table you are making? Maybe a picture that has inspired you? 

What size will it finish out to be? 

Looking good,

Dale in Indy


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## Duckhunter2007

Smith Brother said:


> Do you have a drawing of the table you are making? Maybe a picture that has inspired you?
> 
> What size will it finish out to be?
> 
> Looking good,
> 
> Dale in Indy


Yes, the size is going to be 84" by 46" with the height being 30", Sorry I don't have it drawn up at this time, but I'll try to get around to it.


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## Duckhunter2007

I finished planing the boards down to the exact thickness and finally got them all jointed. One of the boards on the end has a slight bow so I'm going to see if I can get that pulled out over night.


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## Duckhunter2007

...........


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## Duckhunter2007

This is it drawn up


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## Duckhunter2007

For the legs, what is yalls thoughts about glueing 1x4s together to make a 3x4 or 4x4 leg?


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## BZawat

I'm viewing on my iPhone app & sometimes pics don't look as good as they should on mobile so I could be mistaken, but it looks as if there is a good bit of moisture coming out of your boards once they were planed. Have you checked your MC? Or is it grain variation causing the darker spots in some boards?


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## Duckhunter2007

BZawat said:


> I'm viewing on my iPhone app & sometimes pics don't look as good as they should on mobile so I could be mistaken, but it looks as if there is a good bit of moisture coming out of your boards once they were planed. Have you checked your MC? Or is it grain variation causing the darker spots in some boards?


It is the different color variation in the grains. You can find all kinds of colors in this sinker wood, black ,green ,red ,orange, it can be very beautiful. These boards here are right at 9%


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## gideon

is that the natural color of cypress or is that due to being under water?


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## Duckhunter2007

gideon said:


> is that the natural color of cypress or is that due to being under water?


No it is not the natural color, the color is from being underwater for over a hundred years as minerals from the water soak into the wood causing these colors you see, and it is also old growth. Regular cypress you see today is a light colored wood. There is a lot of write ups on sinker cypress that is very interesting with lots of history.


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## Duckhunter2007

Yesterday evening after work I got started on putting the top together.
I decided to biscuit joint the boards together, put one every foot and glued and clamped it all together. I ran into a small problem, I have two boards that are sitting higher than the others about a 16th and I can't pull them down with the clamps, I hoping that it shouldn't be a problem to sand them down flat. Have any of you ran into this problem and does a little of sanding do the trick. Im sure a hand planer would work but I don't have one. :help:


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## Duckhunter2007

Together before the clamps


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## Duckhunter2007

Should I get a hand planer? Are the ones at home depot and lowes ok? Is there anyone out there?


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## Paarker

You could hand plane but if your inexperience it wouldn't work all that well. What I would try is find someone with a wide belt or drum sander in your area and ask if they could do it for you ( think cabinet shop ). Maybe you could also try ripping it apart at that joint and try it again.

Making flat panels isn't the easiest thing to do right but there are a few work arounds. Don't do the whole glue up at once maybe do several smaller ones then glue the smaller ones together. On a 24 inch wide panel i'll leave the boards a little thicker and then glue up 2 12 inch wide panels and then plane them to final thickness then i only have one glue joint to worry about in the final thickness. Making sure the edges are a perfect 90 degrees is the first part you should be able to have a perfect joint with no clamp pressure.


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## MasterSplinter

Beautiful wood. That will make a wonderful table.


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## firemedic

Duckhunter2007 said:


> Should I get a hand planer? Are the ones at home depot and lowes ok? Is there anyone out there?


Pretty sinker, I particularly like the greens.

When you say hand planer are you talking the power ones?

Either way the hand planes (Buck Bro) that Depot sells are crap but you could tune up the jack (No 14 I think they call it) I got one to tune up for S&G's and it was fine but the iron (blade) is crap. It makes for a decent fore plane though.

Y'all know I work with a lot of cypress and I can tell y'all that planing a cypress top without aligning grain run-out is brutal. Even sinker is tough. If you go that route I hope you planned for it or got lucky when you laid out the glue-up!


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## Wood4Brains

> "Y'all know I work with a lot of cypress and I can tell y'all that planing a cypress top without aligning grain run-out is brutal."


Can you elaborate a bit on that?

I am pretty sure you are talking about grain direction, right?

But aren't you supposed to alternate the boards to prevent cupping?

I think I am missing something again...


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## firemedic

Grunkle Stan said:


> Can you elaborate a bit on that?
> 
> I am pretty sure you are talking about grain direction, right?
> 
> But aren't you supposed to alternate the boards to prevent cupping?
> 
> I think I am missing something again...


Grain run-out differs from growth rings. You are right saying the annual rings should be alternated but this can be overlooked for cypress - it dries well and is very stable once it is. 

If you rive a piece of lumber (split a board out of a log) the grain will be pretty straight and can be planed in either direction (mostly). When lumber is sawn the grain has a predominate direction at which it leaves the board. When planing by hand, or with a power planer, we have to respect that to prevent tear-out. Just like shaving your beard - if you go in the direction the hair lays, with the grain, it doesn't pull and irritate as much.

Hand tool woodworking is less about using a saw, chisels or who makes the best hand plane. It is about understanding the strengths and weaknesses of wood - and exploiting those to work efficiently.


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## Duckhunter2007

firemedic said:


> Pretty sinker, I particularly like the greens.
> 
> When you say hand planer are you talking the power ones?
> 
> Either way the hand planes (Buck Bro) that Depot sells are crap but you could tune up the jack (No 14 I think they call it) I got one to tune up for S&G's and it was fine but the iron (blade) is crap. It makes for a decent fore plane though.
> 
> Y'all know I work with a lot of cypress and I can tell y'all that planing a cypress top without aligning grain run-out is brutal. Even sinker is tough. If you go that route I hope you planned for it or got lucky when you laid out the glue-up!


 I was talking about regular hand plane, not a power one. The route I think im going to take is to use an orbital sander. The boards aren't raised up as bad as I thought, maybe a 32nd of an inch. But I notice it and I want it to be as best as it can be.


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## BZawat

Duckhunter2007 said:


> I was talking about regular hand plane, not a power one. The route I think im going to take is to use an orbital sander. The boards aren't raised up as bad as I thought, maybe a 32nd of an inch. But I notice it and I want it to be as best as it can be.


Whenever I need to do that, I start with a belt sander & 120 grit belt to level the surface. Much faster and much better results than with just an orbital. Drawback is you have to sand out the scratches afterward.


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## Duckhunter2007

BZawat said:


> Whenever I need to do that, I start with a belt sander & 120 grit belt to level the surface. Much faster and much better results than with just an orbital. Drawback is you have to sand out the scratches afterward.


Yea but a belt sander can cause uneven sanding sometimes and I don't want to run into that.


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## BZawat

It can. Takes a little technique & practice. Don't lean on it - let the sander do the work - and don't let it sit in one place. Keep it moving constantly. Keep the belt moving parallel to the grain & it's much easier to remove the scratches. Just a suggestion. 

I use a belt sander almost daily at work to scribe solid surface tops, so I'm pretty comfortable with them. It certainly is possible to booger up a surface with one though. 

Whatever you settle on, good luck man! That's gonna be a beautiful top


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## Duckhunter2007

Well after looking over the table after the glue I desided to redo it. The boards bowed and the top was wavey. This is my first big table like this so im learning. I went ahead and cut all the joints and im going to glue the boards two at a time and do some better clamping, still going to biscuit joint it. I don't know if the fact that it has been raining for the last three days is what hurt me. Anyone have some suggestions?


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## Longknife

I would skip the biscuits and use cauls instead. May very well have been the biscuits that screwed it up for you and they add nothing to strength. Make sure your boards are straight too, or you may have to rejoint them.
Good luck, this wood is going to be a beautiful table. :thumbsup:


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## BZawat

+1 Longknife. I find biscuits to be pretty useless. A simple edge glue joint is more than sufficient. And cauls are a must. I use them very time I make a glue lam panel of any kind, whether a table top, raised panel blank, cutting board, whatever. 

They can be as simple as pieces of stock that are jointed perfectly straight on one edge. I'd make them no less than 1" thick by 3" wide for strength. Cover your working edge with packing tape, wax paper, laminate, gorilla tape, anything that won't stick to wood glue. Clamp the cauls together in pairs (top & bottom) before you tighten your edge clamps and they will keep your top flat & keep the boards in alignment. 











The pic shows 2 small door panels being glued up. It's a lot smaller than your application, but the same principle applies.


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## Duckhunter2007

I really appreciate the help, im going to try to make some cauls on my jointer when I get to the shop this evening, and I guess ill leave the biscuits out this time too.


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## BZawat

Yeah you don't need em. I think they provide a false sense of security; you think they are going to help with keeping boards aligned and they really don't. I learned that one the hard way. A full hardwood spline would help with alignment. Use a router & slot cutter to cut the groove & mill the spline to fit. I usually make em 1/4 the thickness of the boards being joined, & go at least 3/4" deep on each groove. Allow 1/16" for expansion in the spline so it doesn't push the joint apart if it swells.

But again, even the spline isn't necessary. A well fitting glue joint is perfectly sufficient.


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## Walleye977

Ok I need to jump in here when glue a joint like this together you say just using glue is enough? What type of glue would you Recommend?


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## Duckhunter2007

Walleye977 said:


> Ok I need to jump in here when glue a joint like this together you say just using glue is enough? What type of glue would you Recommend?


 Im using Titebond 3


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## Walleye977

Thanks I'm going to building a table this coming winter when I have time. I'm going to follow your tread here closely thanks for posting.


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## gideon

Duckhunter2007 said:


> No it is not the natural color, the color is from being underwater for over a hundred years as minerals from the water soak into the wood causing these colors you see, and it is also old growth. Regular cypress you see today is a light colored wood. There is a lot of write ups on sinker cypress that is very interesting with lots of history.


what does it run pbf? is there a supplier I can contact? its really incredible looking.


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## Duckhunter2007

gideon said:


> what does it run pbf? is there a supplier I can contact? its really incredible looking.


If you try to buy it from a company or business they are going to charge you from 8 to 10 dollars a board foot.
But if you get it from the actual person who gets the logs then you can usually get it around 4.50 a board foot, but the price differs with the wood.


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## Duckhunter2007

Well after having to start over, I'm making progress again. I only glued two boards together at once, tomorrow will be another two. I made 5 cauls out of oak I had laying around, and no biscuits this time.


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## Duckhunter2007

Another picture


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## BZawat

You've got the right idea. One thing to consider: to use cauls in 5 places, you need 10 cauls. They are positioned directly over each other, one on top of the surface and one below, with their taped edges facing each other. 

Think of a floor joist, for example. It's strength is greater across the grain (standing on edge) than it is on flat. So if you want to use it to brace something flat & true, you have to stand it on edge. So 1 caul on edge above and 1 caul on edge below clamped together will (hopefully) provide you with a flat, straight, level surface.


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## Duckhunter2007

BZawat said:


> You've got the right idea. One thing to consider: to use cauls in 5 places, you need 10 cauls. They are positioned directly over each other, one on top of the surface and one below, with their taped edges facing each other.
> 
> Think of a floor joist, for example. It's strength is greater across the grain (standing on edge) than it is on flat. So if you want to use it to brace something flat & true, you have to stand it on edge. So 1 caul on edge above and 1 caul on edge below clamped together will (hopefully) provide you with a flat, straight, level surface.


Well next two ill do that, thanks!


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## Duckhunter2007

Alright I have the other three boards glued together, I have 5 cauls on top and 5 on bottom. The other half that I glued together last night came out great and hopefully these will too. Tomorrow all I have is one joint to glue up and the whole top will be together. Hopefully all goes well!


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## Duckhunter2007

Another pic


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## firemedic

I look forward to seeing it out of the clamps!


Are you leaning any particular way for the finish yet?


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## Duckhunter2007

firemedic said:


> I look forward to seeing it out of the clamps!
> 
> 
> Are you leaning any particular way for the finish yet?


Thinking about a few coats of tung oil, then go over it with poly.


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## rayking49

Man, that cypress is beautiful. Great job so far.


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## master or nothing

rayking49 said:


> Man, that cypress is beautiful. Great job so far.


+1 on the beautiful cypress. It is turning out great.


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## Duckhunter2007

Last joint! It's together now!


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## Duckhunter2007

Another


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## MasterSplinter

Duckhunter2007 said:


> Thinking about a few coats of tung oil, then go over it with poly.


 
Beautiful job. Im not an expert but i dont think tung oil dries and then the poly will never dry.


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## Duckhunter2007

MasterSplinter said:


> Beautiful job. Im not an expert but i dont think tung oil dries and then the poly will never dry.


I don't know, I've only done that combination on small projects and it worked, but it may not work on the table? What do you think I should use?


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## MasterSplinter

If you want a finish that will hold up to even the harshest spills. Then a pre cat.


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## Duckhunter2007

MasterSplinter said:


> If you want a finish that will hold up to even the harshest spills. Then a pre cat.


Huh?


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## Bob Willing

MasterSplinter said:


> Beautiful job. Im not an expert but i dont think tung oil dries and then the poly will never dry.


 
I use Tung oil and 10% poly (MinWax) on my fishing rod rack for over 4 years and have never had a problem. I brush it on wait 15 min and wipe off. I do this for two coats. Just remember to wipe everything down good, if it get too thick it will be shinny in spots. You can also hand rub the first coat on and steel wool before it dries than wipe off.


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## MasterSplinter

Duckhunter2007 said:


> Huh?


Pre cat is a poly that can hold up to acetone.


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## MasterSplinter

I have kids........ LOL


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## Duckhunter2007

The top is all glued up and it came out great this time! Thanks for the help guys! Now I moved on to the legs, I glued 4 1x4s together to make the 4x4 leg, I think it's going to look great!


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## BZawat

Duckhunter2007 said:


> The top is all glued up and it came out great this time! Thanks for the help guys! Now I moved on to the legs, I glued 4 1x4s together to make the 4x4 leg, I think it's going to look great!


Awesome man!!! Glad to hear it came out well. 
On another note, I'd throw a couple more clamps on your leg glue ups - face grain is tougher to make a good joint out of. And be sure to leave them in clamps for at least 24 hours, regardless of what the glue bottle says. 
You're doing a great job brotha!


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## woodnthings

*your biscuit joiner table is the reference....*

I don't use that myself. I use the bench top as the reference and hold the work down as flat as possible that way the base of the joiner is larger and offers more stability. It's too easy to tip the joiner in my experience using the table AND I didn't read the OM to find out the "proper" use of the tool.... :thumbdown:


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## Duckhunter2007

BZawat said:


> Awesome man!!! Glad to hear it came out well.
> On another note, I'd throw a couple more clamps on your leg glue ups - face grain is tougher to make a good joint out of. And be sure to leave them in clamps for at least 24 hours, regardless of what the glue bottle says.
> You're doing a great job brotha!


Yea, I've been letting everything sit for at least 24 hrs in the clamps, that's what's taking me a long time to build the table, I put a few more clamps on after the picture.


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## smboudreaux81

That looks good man. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Where are you from btw?


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## Duckhunter2007

smboudreaux81 said:


> That looks good man. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Where are you from btw?


Vinton, Louisiana. West of Lake Charles


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## smboudreaux81

I know where Vinton is. Your shop looked familiar. I thought you were someone else. I'm from pierre part, la.


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## tator234

Are you going to put BREADBOARDS on ends


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## Duckhunter2007

The legs are done, they are planer down to size and I think they came out great!


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## Duckhunter2007

Started making the tenons on the aprons, well I got one done, back at it tomorrow. Also done some sanding on the top.


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## Duckhunter2007

Table top


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## Duckhunter2007

tator234 said:


> Are you going to put BREADBOARDS on ends


I wasn't planning on putting a breadboard.


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## Duckhunter2007

The apron and legs have been together, still have a few touch ups and sanding to do. The mortise and tenon joints worked very well, and was fun to make.


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## Duckhunter2007

I used my router and a chisel to make the mortise and table saw to make tenons.


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## Duckhunter2007

........


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## Duckhunter2007

......


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## firemedic

Looks great! Nice work :thumbsup:


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## crafter1956

*Great*

Good job, should be a table to last forever.


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## GROOVY

Looks good, what do you plan on for the topcoat? . and when you going to do the chairs?


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## rayking49

Looks great!


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## BZawat

Dude that table is looking sweet! Great job on the joinery. Can't wait to see it with finish on it!

Dominick has a pic of a walnut table he finished with a product called Behlen's Rockhard Table Top Varnish. Maybe he'll chime in with some info on that experience....


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## Duckhunter2007

I'm not going to tackle chairs but I am going to make a bench for one side, and see if I can find some chairs. I'm still trying to figure out what to use for the finish, I want to use an oil so that it pulls out all of the colors but not sure what to put on top of the oil or if I should put anything on top of it? Any advise on that? Thanks guys, y'all are really helping me out!


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## madge45

*Wow*

That is some gorgeous lumber, lucky you.


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## firemedic

How's it coming along?


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## Duckhunter2007

firemedic said:


> How's it coming along?


 I haven't had much time this week due to ERT training and work, and working all weekend till Tuesday. But I did get some Z clips order for the top and I finished up on the mortise and tenon joints. On a bad note my wife bought some chairs and a table for 150 dollars and when I got home she said she gave the table away and they are coming to get it, the table was a Walnut table!!! 2inches thick! I been trying to find some walnut to make cutting boards and she gave away a whole table of it!


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## douglass

Try waterlox. It's a tung oil mix that is ready to use. It brought out the character of my ambrosia maple like you wouldn't believe.


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## douglass




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## Duckhunter2007

Made it to the shop today. I sanded everything with 220 grit and finish up on a few touchups. Now I need to sand a little more on top and start applying the finish, but that will be tomorrow. I used a 1/4 roundover bit and rounded all the edges on the whole table. I'm still waiting on zclips and corner braces to come in but it's coming together.


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## Duckhunter2007

Under side


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## sanchez

That table is coming along nicely. Those boards are really pretty!


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## firemedic

Very nice!


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## GeorgeC

Duckhunter2007 said:


> The boards have been planed and have came to life some.


WOW!!!

Beautiful.

George


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## Duckhunter2007

First coat of tung oil!


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## Duckhunter2007

The boss wanted to be in the picture.


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## Reclaimed Wood Blog

Wide belt or drum sander is the way to go.







For project like the one you're working on it is really worth the time trying to find one. The color of sinker Cypress is gorgeous. We don't see any of it out on the West Coast. Looking forward to seeing the finished product. 

http://reclaimedwoodblog.com/


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## Pauley

The boss seems very happy with that gorgeous table!


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## MapleMoose

Life is so much better when the boss is happy. That table looks awesome!!


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## Duckhunter2007

I started on the bench, I glued up the legs yesterday and I cut out the pieces for the bench, and put a coat of oil on them.


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## Duckhunter2007

Bench is complete, and put a few coats on the bottom of the table top.


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## firemedic

Very nice


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## rayking49

Looking good man!


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## MidGAOutdoor

nice work. beautiful wood.


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## Duckhunter2007

*Finished product*

Finished! Came out great, it took a while to complete due to work but im glad its finished.


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## Duckhunter2007

One more.


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## BZawat

Very nice man!!


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## firemedic

Yes, quite nice!


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## Bob Willing

Beautiful:thumbsup: All you need to do now is sign it and dedicate it to someone special and they will remember it for years to come. That's what I did to my first table almost forty years ago.


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## Duckhunter2007

These are the chairs I got for the table, going to paint them black this evening. I wish one day I can learn how to build chairs like this. I want to learn how to bend the wood to make the curves. Lots of learning to do.


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## MasterSplinter

Wow. Excellent job.


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## madge45

*awesome*

that is a beautiful job, I wish we could get that lumber here, it's looks great in your home, nice choice of finish.


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## Duckhunter2007

Table with chairs.


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## chancey1483

Been thinking about doing this style table for awhile now. This one has given me great inspirations to do it soon. Awesome job and thank you for sharing your journey.


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