Dining Table for me, from quilted Blackbutt and Sydney Bluegum

**FenceFurniture** · 14th March 2019, 08:18 PM

Or should I say, DMB Blackbutt. Never have I worked with timber that had quite such a mind of its own. At Sturt School recently, Evan Dunstone mentioned the phrase "Timber never forgets it was a tree" and never was this more apparent to me than working this lot

. If I had my time over I would have proceeded differently, but that's woodworking for you.

So first up, before pics an stuff, some thanks are in order for all the fantastic help I had along the way. Chronologically:
1. Shane Smith lent fletty and me his trailer last May for the faFFing Around trip where...
2. ....during that trip Greg Ward sold me some beautiful looking timber at a great price. He neglected to supply me with the necessary psychological notes on how to cope with working this DMB Blackbutt.
3. NCArcher gave me a hand to dress some of it (they were 2.4m long at that point). We were both pretty damned impressed by the figure coming out of the rough sawn planks

(then, for quite some time I fooled around with various finishes to see what would look good. Eventually I decided on a Satin hardwax oil.....or is that Satan in this case?)

4. After leaving to it to rest for about 10 months I took the planks down to Chris Parks who provided his bandsaw for resawing some boards, some of which had to be jointed up first. It became obvious during this process that I was never going to get full length (1500) boards to work with, if I ever wanted anything closely resembling a flat table. The boards were popping all over the place. Rightio, I designed in a middle breadboard on the spot and we cut them down to about 700mm. At the end of the day we had a good stack of flat boards. By the time I got home that was a different story, and so the fun began....
5. fletty and I glued up the panels in his new Panel Press. They were flat there too....for a while, until I got home again.....
6. After I screwed the panels almost flat with 4 pieces of 40x40x5 angle steel, the local Plantation Shutters guy drum sanded the crinkle cut chips flat
7. fletty guided and oversaw the construction of the breadboard ends and middle piece, and provided a great sounding board along the way.

So thank you one and all for your help and assistance - it was terrific!

And so to the table.

1. My table.jpg

I've never seen Blackbutt with such quilting in it. It "moves" very nicely as one walks past it.

2. My table.jpg 3. My table.jpg

In the context of the Dining Room:

4. My table.jpg 5. My table.jpg

The finish was Whittle's Wax "Evolution" Hardwax Oil, Satin (3 coats rolled on, sanding 500, 800 in between coats), and final sanding with 3000 grit for the beautiful silk finish that can be obtained from that finish.

Thanks for having a squizz.

**Simplicity** · 14th March 2019, 08:35 PM

Very nice out come Brett.
I also like the little black caps for the screws.
Sometimes I think the pain is worth suffering for the end result.

Is the base becoming your signature style is that base similar to the one you used for your sons table?.

Cheers Matt

**FenceFurniture** · 14th March 2019, 08:41 PM

Not black caps/ screws Matt - they are breadboard dowels from some sticks of 3/8" dia Tassie Oak rods that I have.

Yes, I do like the.... ahhhh....the aahh....Simplicity

of the Charcoal legs. All attention is on the timber top - the legs kinda disappear.

**groeneaj** · 14th March 2019, 08:54 PM

Really nice Brett. You did well filling all the cracks in the blackbutt, the finish really looks excellent.

Were you happy with powder coating in the legs?

**FenceFurniture** · 14th March 2019, 08:56 PM

Thanks Andy. Yes the powder coating was a really good job.

**Chris Parks** · 14th March 2019, 08:58 PM

It looks fantastic Brett but the next time pick a cooler day to machine timber! I am absolutely surprised at how straight you got it because I reckoned it would make good firewood a few times during the day we machined it as you know.

**FenceFurniture** · 14th March 2019, 09:31 PM

Originally Posted by groeneaj

....filling all the cracks in the blackbutt....

For four days and nights....epoxy, coffee grounds, Blackbutt dust, some other mixed dust, sanding, epoxy, sanding, epoxy, sanding, DAMN another bit, epoxy sanding....

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

... next time pick a cooler day to machine timber!

Yes, the problem with the weather forecast was that they never say what horrendous humidity might be involved. It was only about 27-28 but at 900% humidity......it was tough

**Alkahestic** · 15th March 2019, 11:13 AM

That is one purty table. How are you finding the Whittle's hardwax is standing up to use? Also a question about the construction, the blue gum 'sides' that run down the length of the table top, how are they attached?

**FenceFurniture** · 15th March 2019, 01:58 PM

Thanks Umar. Too early to say about the hardwax oil - first use will be tonight

It probably won't be fully cured for another two weeks yet. Certainly I'll be waiting that long before I do another red wine test on the sample piece in the shed that I am preparing.

The Bluegum sides are glued, but only to the Blackbutt panels. The sides are not glued to the breadboards. So in other words, the BG sides will expand out when the BB expands, and that will mean a slight gap will temporarily appear between the ends of the breadboards and the sides. One way or another there has to be a temporary overlap or a gap somewhere or other....and I thought that looking at the profile of the T&G 4x times per side wouldn't look any good at all. (might be alright if they are the same species/colour)

**Skew ChiDAMN!!** · 15th March 2019, 03:29 PM

Just think of the beautiful fence you could have made from that!

**Greg Ward** · 15th March 2019, 06:56 PM

That's wonderful.
We have just cut up another few logs that are similar, so more difficult work for someone in the future.
Really pleased to see how it turned out
Greg

**FenceFurniture** · 15th March 2019, 07:01 PM

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

Just think of the beautiful fence you could have made from that!

Ha! It wouldn't hold diddly squat in after a week or two - be a Fencer's nightmare - prolly twisting after he put each one up. It was tough enough for this Fence.

**FenceFurniture** · 15th March 2019, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by Greg Ward

That's wonderful.
We have just cut up another few logs that are similar, so more difficult work for someone in the future.

Thanks Greg. Remember how reasonably straight they were when we put them in the trailer? This is what can happen (and that piece 3rd down that is pointing up is a) only 300 long, and b) flat at the back edge being held down by the lump on top.

DMB Quilted Blackbutt.jpg

**Chris Parks** · 15th March 2019, 08:02 PM

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Thanks Greg. Remember how reasonably straight they were when we put them in the trailer? This is what can happen (and that piece 3rd down that is pointing up is a) only 300 long, and b) flat at the back edge being held down by the lump on top.

DMB Quilted Blackbutt.jpg

I go into some sort of allergic reaction every time I see a picture of the stuff.

**FenceFurniture** · 15th March 2019, 10:14 PM

So preceding the first use was the pre-first use, and that was a board game (Azul). The reason for mentioning that is that this Satin surface feels fantastic when sliding cards and stuff around on it. The Hardwax Oil regime is going to be hard to shake, methinks.

Thread: Dining Table for me, from quilted Blackbutt and Sydney Bluegum

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Dining Table for me, from quilted Blackbutt and Sydney Bluegum

Similar Threads

VICTORIA Sydney bluegum off cuts

VICTORIA Juvenile Sydney bluegum

Restoration of an Art Deco Quilted Queensland Maple coffee table

Sydney NSW. Wanted, Someone to build me a dining table! Swap or Pay

blackbutt table top help

Posting Permissions