Thread: African mahogany dining table

wow, the timber is fantastic.....great work, and get better soon so you can get more shed time.

The table has come up really well, it pretty much glows.

How did you find working with the Khaya? It would have wide spaced growth rings from being a yard or street tree, and growing in full sun?
Did it tear out easily?

Beautiful wood, and a very nicely crafted table!

Originally Posted by Clinton1

How did you find working with the Khaya? It would have wide spaced growth rings from being a yard or street tree, and growing in full sun?Did it tear out easily?

Clinton, I do enjoy working with khaya, though it can be challenging, as each growth ring alternates the direction of the grain, this is especially accentuated on quarter cut boards, as the majority of this table is made of (except the 2 stretchers). eg. if you are planing it, every second growth ring, you will be planing against the direction of the grain, tools need to be very sharp.
this particular tree came off the local golf club where i used to live. it payed to know the greenkeeper. my wife and i slabbed it up on one of our days off.
i used the offcuts, plus a couple of extra slabs (from same tree) to build some cupboards on our verander. i will post pics of this in a later thread

by the way i welcome any critisism, be it good, bad, or downright ugly!!
i am probably my own harshest critic, as most people who visit us at our home are not woodworkers, and they say how lovely it looks, but for all most of them know it could have come from A'mart or Harvey Norman.
anyway back to the table, i think that the top is a bit too thin for the base. it started out about 25mm thick. but after glue-up i had to take it down to 20mm to get it totally flat again (probably rushed it a bit after thicknessing the boards to get it glued up, as they moved a bit)

i hope it wasnt the khaya that made u sick, it can be pretty bad without dust extraction

Originally Posted by rowie

i hope it wasnt the khaya that made u sick, it can be pretty bad without dust extraction

I also hope its not my love for timber thats bought me down. i have a 2hp dust extractor hooked up to my machines, and i wear a dust mask for the dustier jobs.
one of my next projects will be making up a cyclone to Bill Pentz specs in the near future, after learning about it through this forum (never can be too carefull)

Timely post Ironwood! I too plan on making a table from some well seasoned African mahogany very soon and I did not realise it can make you crook - I will have to remember to take care on it. Really nice looking table by the way.

Very nice table.

Thanks guys,
spent some time at the doctors today, he assures me that sawdust or contact with any wood is not what has caused my problems, which is a relief in some ways, but will definitely build the cyclone and upgrade ducting etc, to prevent any future problems, as i do work with some of the nastier woods, better to be safe than sorry!!!

Beautiful mate! Get well soon.

Top job. If you have timber left you could add a thickening piece to the underside of the edge of the table - very common in furniture shops.

Get well soon mate.

Den

Originally Posted by TassieKiwi

Top job. If you have timber left you could add a thickening piece to the underside of the edge of the table - very common in furniture shops.

Den,
thanks for the tip, i hadnt thought of that. the only trouble, it would mean remachining the edge as i routed a 3mm radius all the way around, top and bottom