Thread: Building a 10 ft long Jarrah table

Making the legs

The legs were milled to 80mm square and then cut to 75cm in length. I tapered the inside of legs. It started from 30 mm below the rail and finished at 65mm square at the bottom.

The rail-to-leg joint
I used the Domino. I cut a mortise to max 28mm deep. Since the biggest domino available is 50 mm, so I made my own out of jarrah. They are 56mm long and 10mm thick.

Gluing the base

I cut the mortises (Domino) on the top side of the rails. They are for the buttons to go into when I attach the top to the base later on. It is much easier to do it before the base is glued.

When I did my first table, I glued the base together in 1 go. I had to work very fast and I found it really difficult to keep things square.

Now I do it in 2 stages. First I glue the legs to the short rails then I glue them to the long rails.

Keeping the legs vertical and the rail square

As you apply pressure to the top of the legs, the bottom will spread. So I clamped a piece of timber to the bottom of the legs to make sure the legs are parallel. I also clamped a piece of MDF to the top to make the frame square.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that the rails are 95mm high and 35mm thick. A rail in that size has to be strong. One way to test its strength is to sit on it in the middle. It didn’t sag at all, so it is good.

To pin or not to pin

I decided to pin the joints with a dowel peg and cover it with a Wenge plug.

First coat as a sealer

I used 50% turps and 50% poly as my first coat. I used it as a sealer.

Building the top

I would leave the base alone for a while and started working on the top. Before I did that I thought it would be a good idea to sharpen the jointer and thicknesser blades. So I took my Tormek out and did some sharpening.

Wongo,

You are a master

Flattening the boards

The top will be 2.5m long so the boards I am working are 2.7m long. I chose them very carefully at the timberyard. I made sure they were flat and straight enough. I also bought 1 extra board as backup.

Mark the boards with a chalk so you can easily monitor the progress.

The boards started at 40mm thick. After going through the jointer and thicknesser for 3 hours, they were 31mm thick and flat. (And I was absolutely exhausted).

That’s it for today.

Awesome. I can't wait for the next exciting installment.

Very nice Wongy.
I need to make a 2m table and was thinking of using some Studley stuff. Has anyone tried mitred legs ie hollow box section instead of solid I would still glue a plug into the joint area and perhaps the bottom section. How big do you reckon the rails should be for 2m.

Mike

Looking good Wongo.

One thing though: 2.5 is only 8'4". Are you adding breadboard ends to make it 10ft?

Hi Guys
I am new to this group - used to mess around on the Wrec. a few years ago though.
So excuse me if I mess up a bit on some protcols.
I have a small furniture workshop/gallery in Nannup WA and work in Jarrah and Marri

This is a good job Wongo,
A table that big in Jarrah is a big job - and very satisfying.
I make quite a few tables - although dont like going over 2.400 long due to the logistics of handling them.

Although tend to make the legs up to around 140 sq with the top at around 40mm - so making them shockinly heavy.
Also do the legs as a breakdown fiting - apart from making the whole thing easier to manipulate, specialy if they being transported to the Eastern States or wherever.

A big chunky Jarrah table is always an eye catcher.
Well done

Phully

Originally Posted by silentC

Looking good Wongo.

One thing though: 2.5 is only 8'4". Are you adding breadboard ends to make it 10ft?

Oh oh oh, how the hell did I get 10ft??

First in maths right?



Sorry xxxx, I made it 2 ft too short. Nah, 2.5m is right.

Originally Posted by m2c1Iw

Very nice Wongy.
I need to make a 2m table and was thinking of using some Studley stuff. Has anyone tried mitred legs ie hollow box section instead of solid I would still glue a plug into the joint area and perhaps the bottom section. How big do you reckon the rails should be for 2m.

Mike

Mike,

I made this one out of Studley's hardwood pack.

The legs were made from 3 pieces of wood. If you do a good job then the gluelines are pretty much invisible. I did it because it was a low budget table.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/album....&pictureid=868