# A farmhouse table made from my "shop wood" stash



## scsmith42 (Jan 24, 2011)

Earlier this year a friend of mine (WDH on this forum) posted some pix of a farmhouse table that he crafted out of white oak. His project inspired me to build something similar for my niece, who recently moved to NC to pursue her Masters degree at UNCG.

The wood came from a large willow oak (red oak) tree that had died before being harvested. It had some mineral stain discolorations in some of the boards, and many of the boards had knots and other defects. When we milled it a couple of years ago, after the lumber came out of the kiln I set it aside to use for shop projects due to the plethora of defects in the wood.












The table top was made from four bookmatched 10” wide QSRO boards. Three of the four matched up fairly nicely, the fourth one was not perfect match but close. A couple of knots and occluded limb defects were filled using a combination of charcoal and CA, and a hollow knot hole was filled with a butterfly inlay. I trimmed the sides and ends of the table and glued the trimmed pieces onto the bottom side to increase the edge thickness.











The legs are the typical quadralinear style. The base has a dovetailed support board in the middle and very strong corner braces. I designed the table so that the legs could be easily removed for transport.








































The oil finish is the “Maloof mix” of 1/3 tung oil, 1/3 BLO, and 1/3 spar varnish.





















I delivered it to my niece earlier today, and she helped assemble the legs to the base.




















It’s nothing fancy, and certainly not in the same league as many of the projects that my fellow forum members craft, but it was a fun project for me and one that should be practical for my niece.

Danny, thanks for the inspiration!


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## Tommie Hockett (Aug 26, 2012)

It sounds awesome bud do you have pics???


OOOK now I have pics


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Tommie Hockett said:


> It sounds awesome bud do you have pics???


Yea it sounds interesting but I have no pics either. I'm getting an error.


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## Tennessee Tim (Dec 15, 2010)

Me too....NO pics. Would love to see the wood.

Have a Blessed and Prosperous weekend in Jesus's Awesome Love,
Tim


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## scsmith42 (Jan 24, 2011)

That's odd, because I'm seeing the pix very clearly... I'll upload the pix to the photo gallery and paste the links.


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

I got the pics, looks great. Stop selling yourself and your project short, that is one nice table. The smile on your nieces face should tell you how much she likes it. :thumbsup:


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## SLAC_Engineer (Feb 23, 2012)

I really like this table. For something thats not "fancy" there is a surprising amount of detail in the joinery. 

I have two questions, Are the legs hollow and plugged or is there a center core that goes the full length? Also, in one of your photos there is writing on the inside of the apron. Is this for sentiment or did you sand it off later on? Just curious.

Thanks for sharing.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Nice work on the table...well done. Looks simple, but we know better. She will have that table for a long time. I'm also interested in what is written on the inside of the apron.









 





 
.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

I've got pics now. It's a wonderful job. Nice joinery and the finish looks sweet. Thanks for posting.


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## Warnock (Apr 4, 2011)

Nothing Fancy? I think it is great looking and will be very useful to your niece. Well done, well done.


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## scsmith42 (Jan 24, 2011)

All: Thanks for the kind words!





SLAC_Engineer said:


> I have two questions, Are the legs hollow and plugged or is there a center core that goes the full length? Also, in one of your photos there is writing on the inside of the apron. Is this for sentiment or did you sand it off later on? Just curious.


The legs are hollow with plugs installed in to top 8" and bottom 5". I know that folks might be curious as to why these lengths... Quite simply it's because I had four pieces of 13" long lumber that I could make the plugs from, and I wanted more strength at the top where the hanger bolts were attached.

The writing was both for sentiment (a note to my niece) as well as recording the finish specifics is in case someone else ever needs to do a repair on it.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

What a great gift. I know she will treasure it.


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## VIFmike (Jul 21, 2012)

You should be very proud of that very nice table. I only hope I can do that nice of a table some day.


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## Gary Beasley (Jan 21, 2009)

That's a heckuva nice table and I'm sure it will be treasured long after you are gone from this world. :thumbsup:


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*That's a great table!*

Observation tells me that you are no "ordinary" woodworker ...a pro maybe?
Can you explain the various machines in the background here: 

Thanks!


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## scsmith42 (Jan 24, 2011)

woodnthings said:


> Observation tells me that you are no "ordinary" woodworker ...a pro maybe?
> Can you explain the various machines in the background here:
> 
> Thanks!


 
You've got a good eye! I'm definitely not a professional woodworker, but I am in the lumber business. The equipment that you're seeing is used in my production shop.

In the background, from right to left, is a 4 head moulder, an oscillating spindle sander, a Mattison straight line rip saw, and a 16" horizontal resaw.

Production equipment that is not seen in the photo includes a 25" jointer planer, a 37" wide belt sander, a sawmill capable of milling a 5' diameter, 58' long log, and a couple of kilns.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*I thought so!*

You are only footsteps away from being a "Pro" Haha. That's some serious woodworking equipment, especially the saw mill.
The table turned out great and with a few more projects like that, and a few more posts....you can graduate to "senior woodworker" here on the forum. :laughing: I really like the leg joinery, but I was wondering if you could have also run some stopped dados and inserted the aprons in them without a lot more work on your part. Possibly not, if frequent disassembly would be necessary, but maybe on the next masterpiece you make? 
How about a photo tour of the production shop when you can find time. WE like tools and photos of them!


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## scsmith42 (Jan 24, 2011)

woodnthings said:


> :laughing: I really like the leg joinery, but I was wondering if you could have also run some stopped dados and inserted the aprons in them without a lot more work on your part. Possibly not, if frequent disassembly would be necessary, but maybe on the next masterpiece you make?
> How about a photo tour of the production shop when you can find time. WE like tools and photos of them!


 
I went this route on the leg assembly figuring that during my nieces lifetime she would be moving the table more than once. Tables always seem to get stuff piled on them in moving vans and the rocking motion tends to loosen the legs up, so I wanted these to be removable. For that reason also I had her do the assembly on some of the legs so that she would know how to take it apart.

I'll snap some pix of the shop and post them when I get time.


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## Fishinbo (Jul 23, 2012)

I can see that your niece is very satisfied with the outcome! Great table.


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## zooker89 (Aug 9, 2012)

Love it. Don't sell yourself short. Pro you are!


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## Paul W Gillespie (Jul 7, 2011)

Great job, from a great uncle. She looks like she loves the table.


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## UKfan (Nov 16, 2010)

Great table


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## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

I wish my "junk" wood looked that nice. Great job on that table and the niece looks very happy about it. Isn't that what really mattered the most?


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Beautiful table!


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