Zigzag dining table - WIP

[Rocker]

Following a suggestion by Zuma, I have designed a zigzag dining table to match my zigzag chairs, see http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=46652 . The table's frame uses 50 x 75 mm stock, so it is very solid, and so does not have any springiness, which is an advantage in the chairs , but would be undesirable in a table. Possibly 50 by 75 mm may have been overkill; 35 by 65 mm stock might have been rigid enough.

The table's joinery is almost identical to that of my zigzag chair, except that I used 8 mm dominoes and locking tenons rather than 6 mm ones. This means that the same design could easily be built by non-owners of a Domino by routing the mortices with a 5/16" spiral bit.

Photo 1 shows the table-frame parts after the mortices have been milled.
Photo 2 shows two locking dominoes, and a jarrah locking tenon reinforcing the joint. The dominoes are used in the top of the rail and the bottom of the feet where they will not be seen. The jarrah locking tenon matches the jarrah of the leg.
Photo 3 shows the frame glue-up. The Z-assemblies and the three stretchers were given three coats of Minwax wipe-on poly before the glue-up.
Photo 4 shoes the buttons attached to the underside of the top. The top is 22 x 970 x 1715 mm.

Rocker
Rocker

[gazaly]

Rock, your god-damn machine.:2tsup:

Does the top overhang the ends enough for a place setting?

Also, did you concider putting the z-assembling opposite each other at all? Not for looks, but strength and rigidity?

Well done :wink:

[Rocker]

Gazaly,

Yes, the top overhangs the frame by 375 mm at each end, so the table easily seats 6 and would seat 8 at a pinch. The zizgag design means that the table's legs do not get in the way of the diners' legs, and the chairs can be drawn up close to the table when not in use.

I did consider the possibilty of making the legs slope in opposite directions, but thought that that design would look much less attractive. Anyway, the frame is easily rigid enough with the legs parallel to one another.

Rocker

[bitingmidge]

I look forward to the next site inspection!

The legs look pretty well proportioned to me, I don't think they need to be lighter (from the photos anyway.)

cheers

P

[Harry72]

Nice work Rocker, with a whole setting you should enter the AWR Studio furniture (http://www.woodreview.com.au/studiofurniture/) comp coming up next year.

[zuma]

Mostly i just blab something about Festool machinery. The zig-zag design style of Rocker caught my eye. And since I'm always interested in designs I was very curious what Rocker could do with it to make a matching dining table. Nice to see Rocker got intrigued as well :D

Looks like another winner (Darn I really like that Jarrah wood, hard to get in Europe...). I'm curious to see the table as a whole and a picture with chairs around it, let's see if the proportions are just right so leg space is not compromised.

Way to go Rocker!

[Dean]

All those Z's make me *yawn*... sleeeepy :D

:doh: I'm awake now... nice job!

[Rocker]

The table is now complete - my only problem now is to fit it into my house which already contains two dining tables.

Rocker

[martrix]

Great job Rocker, nice light feel about the table.

Does it feel balanced when you lean on either side of the table?

Nice Jarrah too.:cool:

[DJ’s Timber]

Not my cup of tea, but awesome work there Rocker and beautiful timber

[jmk89]

I love it and the style is one that I really like. I am thinking about how one couold make it into a desk - perhaps two small drawers suspended on each side and one long narrow one in the centre.
Greenie launched

[bitingmidge]

It looks terrific!

A great companion to the chairs. I suspect a whole new extension to the house is going to be necessary to accomodate all this new stuff!

And now for the Z bed!

cheers,

P

[TassieKiwi]

Hey David, I love thet timber. D'you think that minwax would look ok on Celerytop? Where do you get it from?

D

[Rocker]

Martrix,

Because the frame, and top, are pretty heavy and because the feet extend almost to the edges of the table, it is very stable and has no tendency to tip when leant upon.

Tassie,

I am not familiar with celery-top, but I see no reason why Minwax wipe-on poly wouldn't work on it. It produces a finish that is less shiny than gloss polyurethane. It is pretty similar to the finish of nitro-cellulose lacquer. But I have given my table top two coats of polyurethane on top of three coats of wipe-on poly, in order to give it a really durable finish. The frame just has three coats of wipe-on poly. I got the wipe-on poly from Bunnings.

Rocker

[s_m]

Fabulous job :2tsup:!


The table is now complete - my only problem now is to fit it into my house which already contains two dining tables.

I think it looks great just right there on the verandah :D.

Steph

[Rocker]

An article on building this table and the matching zigzag chairs is now published in the current issue (November 2007) of the British magazine Router and Power Woodworking. Living as I do in the sticks, I am not sure whether the magazine is generally available here.

Although the table was in fact built using a Domino for the joinery, the article describes using a router and my morticing jig to rout the mortices for the floating-tenon joinery. The version of the chairs decribed in the article has a single large locking tenon, rather than three smaller ones, as in the Domino version.

Rocker

[wheelinround]

Rocker I think its an excellent design timber looks great

as for the magazine try online or a major newsagent I am sure I have seen it but only in large city ones it will be expensive

[Rocker]

Here is a version of the article with most of the photos deleted so that the file is small enough to post here. The published article also described building the zigzag chairs. This version describes the table only; an article on building the chairs can be found on the Festool USA website - Google Festool USA Zigzag.

Rocker

[Lignum]

Still a great thread even after all this time :2tsup:

[Rocker]

Thanks, Lignum. The table and a set of six zigzag dining chairs are now in my niece's dining room in England.

Rocker