Farmhouse dinner table
We needed a new dinner table. I wanted to learn about woodworking. This table was built using mostly hand tools and as much traditional joinery as I could figure out. I recognize everything could be improved upon but this being my first project, I’m quite proud. Thanks for checking it out.
Did you know you can haul 10′ lumber in a prius?
Marking the mortises. Unfortunately, I don’t have good pictures of me laminating the legs. There were no untreated 4×4’s so I ripped some 2×8’s and book matched them. They are not great, but I’m happy enough with them.
Hand chopping a mortise.
Dry fitting one of the tenons. The legs lean in 6 degrees on two axes. The mortise hole therefore leans 6 degrees relative to the face of the leg and the shoulder of the tenon leans 6 degrees as well.
First set of legs done.
This took me forever to figure out, longer to mark, and even longer to cut. I messed up several versions of this.
The mortise hole in the top of the leg.
The tenon that sits on the leg.
Cutting the shoulder.
I got this #4 on eBay and tried to restore it myself. It was tough but definitely worth it.
Bought this #7 from a guy on craigslist. It took me a long time to figure out that the #4 is way more useful.
Pile o’ shavings.
Gluing her up!
My workspace. My next project is a bench.
Dry fitting the whole table.
Close up of a through mortise.
Is this called a half lap?
Marking the ends to cut.
This conditioner helped, but not a ton.
Stain.
I love the wipe on poly.
Stain on and 1 coat of poly.
Everything drying for the night.
Final assembly. After much stewing on how to attach the table top, I went with screws straight up from the apron-like cross members. I drilled wide holes (the best that I could with a simple drill bit) and counter sunk the screw heads. I figure if something crazy happens with the change in humidity, I’ll learn a little bit and I can fix it since its my table.
Thanks for looking!