Thread: Redgum Tabletop from old Redgum Stumps

A couple more photos of where I'm at. I've only squared up one board, I'll do the rest tomorrow.

photo 2-1.jpg
photo 1-1.jpg

James.

Devery,
I would do it in 2 stages. 1st make 2.4 lenghts. A biscut end butt will be fine but has to be supported on the underside till joined to another 2.4 length. 2nd shoot the edges and join the top, remove the end joint supports.

I did a similar thing on a smaller table using flooring offcuts. Many of the ends were 45 degree already, so I made all the end joints 45. More interesting than 90 degree and more glue area.

Thinking back to the factory produced pine table tops that I have seen in the shops I would think that most of the end joints are feather jointed rather than direct butt joint.
Another more decorative option may be a flat dovetail joint or a finger (box) joint ..... there are a couple of ideas here but it depends on your machinery and skill level: Finger joint experiments

It is good looking timber and it would be worth looking into movement of redgum and try and work your design to cater for the possibility of it moving around. I look forward to further progress shots.

Cheers

Stinky

Now that you have resawn them the first thing I suggest doing is leave them season for at least 4 weeks. Redgum is notorious for moving when resawn (and thereafter) so I'm not sure if a stretcher glue up would work for red gum. If it moves preferentially it will break up almost any arrangement.

You can get spindle cutters made and if your spindle has a sliding table it will be an easy job to end match the joints.

Thank you for the feedback everyone.

BobL, after I had ripped the stumps in half they were left to acclimatise for more than 4 weeks. Only then did I pass them through the jointer. It's a good, and very important, tip.

Stinky, whilst originally I did want to join all of the boards to make one complete table top I am now considering making an outdoor table with gaps between the boards and joining the lengths with finger joints as you linked to... I think perhaps this would be the most sensible thing to do with the reactive nature of red gum as BobL mentioned. What are your thoughts? Once I have all the lengths I would make a base and a sub frame for the top lengths to be attached.

Ball Peen, thanks for the tips, but looks like I wont be using that method. Sounds like the right method if I wasn't worried about the redgum moving. And, I don't have those tools you mentioned so it looks like I'll be making a jig of some description, something simple to make straight finger joints I think. Table saw or bandsaw, wouldn't matter.

Thanks again all. I'm going to do a bit of investigating and see where I go. For now, back to squaring up these boards.

James.

Originally Posted by Devery

Stinky, whilst originally I did want to join all of the boards to make one complete table top I am now considering making an outdoor table with gaps between the boards and joining the lengths with finger joints as you linked to... I think perhaps this would be the most sensible thing to do with the reactive nature of red gum as BobL mentioned. What are your thoughts? Once I have all the lengths I would make a base and a sub frame for the top lengths to be attached.

For an outdoor table I would just leave the lengths that you have available and fit within a frame.

Screen shot 2013-01-15 at 12.31.58 PM.jpg

Personally I think this will look better than joining the lengths with finger joints. In my mind if you are using the finger joint option you are trying to build a design in which you didn't have the right length timber for, you can easily modify your design and make it work with the timber lengths that you have.

Originally Posted by Sir Stinkalot

In my mind if you are using the finger joint option you are trying to build a design in which you didn't have the right length timber for, you can easily modify your design and make it work with the timber lengths that you have.

Very valid point. Though it does leave me with the problem of sourcing the timber for the frame. The finger joints were appealing as I would not need to obtain any more timber. I do, however, see the sensibility in your idea. It was a pattern I had considered before.

Does anyone know of any plans that are similar to Stinky's drawing? I'm not sure how the inserted redgum would be supported? A sub frame of some description? I'd imagine it wouldn't be attached to the bordering frame, would it?

James.

No real need for a plan. I would however recommend a quick trip to Bunnings or Harvey Norman to have a quick look at the typical construction of these types of tables.

There is another option to the earlier example I gave. It may be possible to use your existing lengths and either finger joint the ends or perhaps a half lap or bridle joint to give you the perimeter frame size of 900x2400 or there about.

Route out a mortice along the full length of the inside face of the long side of the exterior frame, perhaps 15mm wide and 20mm deep (sort of giving you a [ profile).

Create a tenon on the end of your cross pieces (slats) (shown blue) around 20mm long (shown in red). Use a little off cut 5mm wide or so to act as the spacer between your slats and if all done correctly it should all fit within the frame before closing off the end allowing for seasonal movement.

Screen shot 2013-01-15 at 2.39.28 PM.jpg

A quick search on Google Images for "outdoor table" should give you some inspiration...

8846l9i_20.jpeg

Thanks so much for your help. That looks like what I will be doing. I might make a start on the frame today. Does it matter which way my slats go? could I route the mortice along the end and dividing pieces so the slats run the length of the table?

I'll post up some pictures of my progress.

Okay... I have finalised a design. (I think )

table.jpg

It's 2425 x 900. Now to get the two long side lengths I need to join some timber. Would I best using a finger joint or something like a half lap? I've included the side rail, this could be positioned under the long lengths of the top to adding stability to what ever joint I use.

At the moment I think I'll go with half lap, much quicker and suits the tools I have. Then I will use the mortice and tenon technique to insert the slats. I think this is the best use of the short timber, what do you think?

Originally Posted by Devery

. . . . . , what do you think?

Originally Posted by Devery

At the moment I think I'll go with half lap, much quicker and suits the tools I have. Then I will use the mortice and tenon technique to insert the slats. I think this is the best use of the short timber, what do you think?

It sounds like you are on the right path. In relation to the joinery there are a number of different ways to achieve what you need and at the end of the day it shouldn't really matter which one you choose. Personally for joining the long sides of the frame I might consider a bridle joint over a half lap as I like the way the joint is supported on the top and bottom, however if you do not have the right machinery or skill then a well constructed half lap will most likely preform as well or better than a sloppy bridle joint, and a well constructed joint will also look better!

You are correct that the side rails will support the frame, just try and stagger your joinery in your side rails to those in the top frame.

Looking forward to seeing that red gum really pop when a finish is applied.

Stinky