Thread: Red Mahogany table

203kg

Rob, I am sure it is going to be a beautiful table cos you only make beautiful objects. I would try to talking your friend out of using steel base. It deserves something better to sit on don't you think.


Getting the the top flat will be quite a challenge huh?

Anyone have a Woodwiz up there?

Looking forward to seeing how this pans out. I'm with Wongo on the steel base, unless it's something like that table done little while ago where the base was a piece of art in itself.

Oh, I dunno. It's for a cafe, so it needs to be considered "in situ."

A set of minimalist tubing legs coloured to blend in with the general carpet/background so all the attention is snagged by the top could look very, very effective...

So long as the carpet hasn't got flowers or some Granny pattern on it.

Great ideas for the base.
You are right Skew and the place is raw - bare floors and simple painted walls. The tables have black tube legs with chalkboard finished tops.
This table will go in a little raised alcove. It can have its own character!

I eat there and don't know what would be best for a base.

Sorry Scott but they want natural - not pretty.
That is not really my style so they will have to settle for it being a bit dressed up.
A mate has a woodwiz, Waldo, but that would be too neat.
The slab it reasonably flat and level so sanding will be enough.

So far I have trimmed it to size, 1400 long. The ends are cut square but that looked like it just came from a sawmill. So I bevelled the top edge.
Them rasped the corners to remove the nasty sharp corners.

I have flattend the epoxy fills and sanded the top down to #220.

I will have think about how much more to do.

Funniest home videos would have liked my efforts getting the slab from the roof racks to the shed.
I had to cut it down in the driveway then drag it on a dolly up the driveway.

The shot of the short pieces are the waste. You can see the bog voids in the heart of the slab. The kept section was much better but still needed a fair bit of filling on the underside.
Nice figure.

A few pics of the finished slab.
I removed the loose material from the natural edge with a wire brush in an angle grinder.

After the top was filled with epoxy, I "levelled it" with sanders and sanded it to 400 grit.

I cut a 45 degree bevel on the ends and eased the sharp angles.

I put two coats of Organoil Hard Burnishing oil on the underside and 4 coats on the top.

This gave a nice smooth finish with a low sheen.

The timber looks interesting with the dark red colour, lots of figure and the black fill.

Hopefully they will like it.

The timber looks beautiful.

The steel base is fixed to the table with screws and cleats.
The cleats allow for plenty of expansion and contraction.

It is strong enough to support the slab.

The table moves a lot - too wobbly.

It doesn't look right with the overhang on the ends.

Two of the metal bases might work better.
or
A decent base with four solid timber legs and an apron would look and work better.


Slab-type legs would probably look too bulky in the cafe.

I need to do a few sketches to see what will work best.

Nice table top

it looks like it shrunk

It is great to see the end result of what Mal and I process. Beautifl grain for an old piece of old log.

Mal and I am going to focus on getting some more red mahogany timber; local mid N coast NSW stuff and just as good as red riverr gum, a little harder.
Many of the old timber houses up that way are made from red mahogany and the timber after 100 years, even if not panted, is still as good as new. I know he had some at Brisbane and it sold well
Greg

Good work Greg.

Originally Posted by Scally

A decent base with four solid timber legs and an apron would look and work better.

It certainly did shrink.
Now it is 1400 by 700.

Unfortunately I don't think I can get a base from the offcuts.

Greg, I spoke to Mal yesterday and he told me that I got the scraps - not really - but he said he has more slabs with the same figure.
I am about to send him a few pics.

It is easy to see why it was popular at Brisbane.

Well, the metal base wasn't very stable.

I managed to make a trestle base out of the leftover mahogany.

The top sits over the base with a couple of brackets as guides.

It went to the cafe today and I went along for a coffee.

It looks OK.

They like it too.