Thread: 10 seater table top - timber thickness options

With a table that size I'd actually be looking more at 18-20mm thickness to keep overall weight down. If rigidity is an issue, aprons are always an option.

IF the lengths are unbowed and untwisted (unlikely, but it happens) then in theory you could rip a 45-50mm thick board in two on a bandsaw and still have enough meat left to joint & thickness them down to size.

In practise, you'd want the thickest straight boards you can select from their stack as every mm of thickness improves the chance of a blemish free job. (In undressed stacks of 45-50mm, odds are good there'll be a few @ 52mm or thereabouts.)

Also consider this: you only really need the top side to be fully dressed, the underside could still show some machining marks that most people would never see. So long as you can make at least one pass of that side through the thicknesser so it's constant thickness at the edges.

I realise you don't have the tools (bandsaw, etc.) but if the sales yard can't or won't come to the party, it can be worth your while to approach a bespoke joinery or two and see if they're willing to do the job at a fair price. They often have idle time & machinery that the floor mgr would love to see profitably filled.

Another option is to enquire whether such a joinery would be willing to quote to supply the boards, fully dressed to size. It would be more expensive than buying undressed from the sales yard, but you might be pleasantly surprised at the price, given how much work (and risks) it takes out of your hands. Of course, the quote may be ridiculously expensive... there are dicks the world over.

I’ve just bought some Blackwood from Matthews Timber for a smaller table. Like you I didn’t want a heavy table (I’m 100% over heavy furniture) and didn’t want to buy thick boards and thin them down. I bought 25mm timber although I suspect it was a little over 25mm in reality. Because it’s cabinet timber One side is dressed and that side only needs a light sand. The other side is rough sawn but putting it twice through a drum sander meant I was able to remove almost all the saw marks - so ended up with good boards ready to go at 24.5mm. There are a few indistinct saw marks left but I’ll put those on the bottom side.

At Matthews I choose my own timber - they have the whole spectrum of Blackwood from light to dark. I was looking for the darkest stuff possible.

Matthews is in St Mary’s or thereabouts. No connection.

Originally Posted by TomH

was thinking of around 2.5-2.8 x 1m. Probably simple construction with mortice / tenon joints, tapered legs.

Second question is related to the thickness. I don't want a live edge slab type construction. Was thinking more 240mm (or thinner) boards. Problem is most places appear to be selling around 45-50mm boards.

The timber yards mostly sell wood in 25mm, 38mm, 50mm, 75mm and sometimes 80mm thick with euro Oak if its still around .

If you want it flat both sides.
Just roughly.
25mm normally dresses down to 19mm
38mm to around 30mm maybe 32mm
50mm to 42 or maybe a little more. And if its a table top that can be left partly rough sawn on the under side then your going to get a thicker look.

At 2.8 x 1M, 25 mm dressed one side only and skip dressed under to give as thick as possible (TASP) looks OK but is a bit thin I reckon. 38mm is a better thickness to use at that length and depending on the base looks good at 30 to 35mm finished. Just tapered legs and 30 is good. More heavy tapered legs with stretcher rails and 35 looks better. Or TASP from 38mm. I use the acronym TASP every day in cutting lists when dressing timber so its not totally new , at least to me . Maybe its been around for a while?

Then there are the Thicker the better people who want timber from 50mm dressed TASP tops. I need a block and tackle to flip them! Its just me mostly working on them.

Another method is a paneled top . A mitred boarder from 38mm dressed to 30 or tasp depending on the base. And the internal panel is from 25mm . A bit more complex to build .
Most of my tables are either Mitred panel top or Bread board ends. (BBE)

Straight boarded I do on round tops but not so much on a 2.8 x 1M.

Ive got the machinery to dress stuff all set up but when I moved and was waiting 10 months for 3 phase to be connected and building tables half out doors half indoors in a small temp workshop, waiting for my shed to be built. I dressed everything with 240 volt hand held Makita planner and Makita circular saw. Hand planes from there as is usual even now with the larger machinery.

My furniture is country style though. Not dead flat perfect stuff . Its got patina built in from the start.

There's a few tapered leg tables in this to look at with those top to base ratios.

https://www.instagram.com/robertbrownfurniture/

Rob

Depending where you are in Sydney you can get access to a workshop equipped with a band resaw, spiral jointer, spiral thicknesser, thickness sander and table saw.
All decent semi pro/hobby machines in well maintained condition.
Its not a men’s shed with all the ego/cliche probs they have.
You have to do an induction on the equipment and it’s only open on Wednesday and Sunday 10 to 4 with an experienced volunteer supervisor keeping an eye on things ang helping out.
No storage, you bring your timber, work on it and take it away.
Only 4 members at a time so even though it’s not huge with a bit of consideration things go pretty smoothly although you may wait for a machine on occasion, the grounds are nice so you can unlax under tree and look at the water.
Membership $75 a year and $5 per day using workshop.
NSW Woodworkers Association, workshop is at Abbotsford in the old animal quarantine workshop.
Varied membership, young amateurs to retired pros, male and female, everyone gets on, democratic committee.
I was a member a lifetime ago and recently rejoined as local council was hassling me re noise in our gentrifying burb.
H.

Thanks for all the replies.

Got to a few timber yards on Saturday morning. $$ for the dressed timber - 38 x 300 selling around $135-145/m! Looked at a few options - the blackwood was mixed in colour but a little darker than what I was hoping for. Blackbutt was a bit plain - not much different from Vic Ash for some pieces, although the select / feature grades were a bit nicer. Machining cost was not that much in comparison.

Benefits of the Blackwood was the weight - much lighter than the blackbutt. Most of the places were selling slabs - and a slab table is not quite the look I was after.

Will check out the St Marys place as that's not that far away from my work. There's a few other timber yards around on FB marketplace, so will check out a few others on Saturday.

Cheers,

Tom

You could always buy a couple of slabs and cut the wany edges off to give you a couple of nice wide boards for the top.

How good are you with sketchup. Draw up some different styles, add wood grain and see which you like best.

Timber sorted! Managed to convince my wife that a bit of grain could be nice, so picked a few bits of camphor. Aiming to make the rails out of the long bit, the top out of the wider bits (ripped down and thicknessed) and legs by laminating a few bits together from the other bit. Got to work out what to cut now, so drawing up in Sketch up.

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