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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
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    Ballina, NSW
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    Default Dining room buffet - using decking timber

    Hi guys

    Kinda just thinking out loud here.

    I want to build a buffet for our dining room. Have seen some blackbutt examples online and love the look.

    Blackbutt is either not available or is prohibitively expensive in my area.

    Is it a crazy idea to try and construct a piece of furniture from deck boards, milling and gluing the boards into bigger panels?

    What issues am I likely to encounter?

    Thank you!

    Tony

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    Bundaberg
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    Default

    Not crazy at all; the level of difficulty lies in working out what size planks you can get out of the available dimensions. Worst case is if they are 86mm by 18mm and ribbed on the bottom; then you would either have to mill them down to only end up with 1/2" thick boards (although for inset panels that wouldn't be an issue) or try to hide the internal faces somehow. Best case is if you can get the larger sizes of decking boards; 140mm up and ideally 25mm thick. These are often available from sawmills as solid flooring timber; tongue and grooved on the edges and shallow fluted on the bottom; these can be re-sawn and milled into planks roughly 120mm wide and 21mm thick. Those planks can then be jointed into 19mm thick boards as wide as you like.

    If you can only get 19mm thick planks then these can be carefully edged jointed to make almost 19mm thick boards; I have done this with cheap-ish DAR pine boards from the Big Green Shed and lost less than a millimeter in thickness when turned into boards.

    You will need to have access to a reasonable table saw, a jointer and a thicknesser or be pretty proficient with jack, jointer and smoothing hand planes.
    Nothing succeeds like a budgie without a beak.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Ballina, NSW
    Age
    41
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    94

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Chief Tiff View Post
    Not crazy at all; the level of difficulty lies in working out what size planks you can get out of the available dimensions. Worst case is if they are 86mm by 18mm and ribbed on the bottom; then you would either have to mill them down to only end up with 1/2" thick boards (although for inset panels that wouldn't be an issue) or try to hide the internal faces somehow. Best case is if you can get the larger sizes of decking boards; 140mm up and ideally 25mm thick. These are often available from sawmills as solid flooring timber; tongue and grooved on the edges and shallow fluted on the bottom; these can be re-sawn and milled into planks roughly 120mm wide and 21mm thick. Those planks can then be jointed into 19mm thick boards as wide as you like.

    If you can only get 19mm thick planks then these can be carefully edged jointed to make almost 19mm thick boards; I have done this with cheap-ish DAR pine boards from the Big Green Shed and lost less than a millimeter in thickness when turned into boards.

    You will need to have access to a reasonable table saw, a jointer and a thicknesser or be pretty proficient with jack, jointer and smoothing hand planes.
    Thanks so much for the detailed response!

    I have my own table saw and thicknesser, no jointer but I do have an edge jointing jig for the table saw which produces decent results.

    I can get 86x19mm boards that have no ribs underneath locally. I think with careful selection and paying very close attention to gluing up flat (I have a domino which should help) I should be able to get away with keeping the majority of the board thickness. I'm thinking 17-18mm thickness would be plenty strong for a furniture application?

    Interesting, could be a fun project

    Thank you again

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    Nsw
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    64
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    Default

    You should have no issues getting 133mm finish wide decking boards in either 19 or 21mm thick depending on supplier.
    You can also look at Borals range of F27 structural hardwood at you local timber yard that is mostly blackbutt that is available in a variety of sizes.

    One point to note is that whilst it is all KD timber it has a higher moisture rating than timber that is of furniture grade

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Aus
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    118

    Default

    I've made some nice fine furniture out of left over 140mm decking (laminated the boards as you plan to do) but make sure you constrain it well with rails underneath or better still store the timber inside nside for a while before using. I did a fancy design with less reinforcing than usual, which was not the best going into an air conditioned space. It warped a bit... No one else notices though or at least they're kind enough not to say! Maybe this would have happened anyway in the dry environment but I think it's also because the boards were a bit too wet still. The left overs warped further in storage since.

    I think it will work with a more conventional design with rails under the table top. Good luck!

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