BreeStephany
ALLIANCE MEMBER
View media item 88135My finished product, a custom made maple live edge glulam dining room table, high back bench and a live edge bench. My parents are building a new house, so a decided to build them a custom dining room set as an 'early' housewarming present.
View media item 88136The basis of the project is rough cut 2.5" silver or "white" maple which were locally sourced from the boulevards of Missoula, Montana.
I had a good friend I used to work with building houses who is now running their own mill who slabbed them for me. We allowed them to dry for most of the summer after milling before I transported them to my shop and began cutting and planing them down to workable and joinable slabs.
View media item 88137A lot of the slabs were too wide for my planer, in addition to having less than straight live edges, so I went through the assortment of slabs, picked the best 2 slabs for the outside edges and then began selecting slabs and trying to find the best angle to cut the slabs to allow for me to get the most material out of the slab.
I initially used a 2x2 piece of angle iron and a 1x2" piece of tubular steel as a straight edge for cutting, but couldn't get the straight cuts I wanted with either of these so I switched to a 5/8" x 5" piece of pre-finished MDF trim, which worked well as a straightedge and ended up producing much straighter cuts.
View media item 88138I initially was going to cut the slabs with my Bosch mag saw, but after having to cut the slabs before planing, I ended up having to switch with a saw with a little more depth.
My vintage 20A 12" Skil 127 worm drive saw ended up working perfect for the job. It was a little heavier to lug around than the mag saw, weighing in at just over 38lbs, but had PLENTY of power for slicing through the thick maple slabs and giving clean, square, straight cuts.
View media item 88139
View media item 88140A lot of the slabs were less than straight, which made getting straight, clean slabs for laminating a bit more difficult. Many of the slabs had to be cut into multiple smaller width pieces to optimize the number of useful slabs.
View media item 88141
View media item 88142I used a 10" planer and made 1/8" deep cuts on the boards to remove rough marks from milling and to give a clean, smooth surface to both the top and bottom of the boards before final sanding.
To ensure that all of the boards were the same thickness, I planed all of the boards through the planer before changing the depth setting and then repeated the process once I changed the depth.
View media item 88143I ended up having to take off quite a bit of material to get clean, smooth surface on both sides of the slabs.
View media item 88144Start of dry fitting and determining slab order. Some of the slabs had less than perfectly straight cuts, some of which I fixed by running them through the table saw, sanding, or a combination of both to get clean, tight joints between slabs.
View media item 88145
View media item 88146Once the slabs were laid out in order and fitment was where I wanted it, I marked all of the slabs for biscuit joining by marking a center line across adjoining slabs every 10" the length of the slabs.
I then used a biscuit joiner to cut the slot for the biscuits, filled the slots with glue, placed the biscuits and then glued the edge of the slab and joined it to the mating slab and repeated the process.
View media item 88147Clamping of individual slabs
View media item 88148
View media item 88149I made up sets of laminated slabs which were biscuit joined, glued and clamped, allowed to dry and then the larger slabs were joined, clamped and strapped to make the full table width slab.
View media item 88150
View media item 88151
View media item 88152I ran all of the slabs long past the desired length of the table. Once the glue dried on the entire table, I used a straight edge and cut the table to the desired length. This allowed for a much more uniform, straight edge than I would have got from cutting the slabs to desired length before joining.
View media item 88153
View media item 88154
View media item 88155Once I cut the slab to the desired length, I biscuit joined a 2x2 maple section perpendicular to the individual boards and joined each board into the 2x2 with biscuits. This will control any contraction of the individual slabs from one another if they had not yet completely dried at the point of building.
View media item 88156The table was too long to use any of the clamps I had available, so I used a set of straps to clamp the end sections to the primary slab.
View media item 88157
View media item 88158
View media item 88159
View media item 88160I used a grinder with a sanding disc to grind and sand the 2x2 ends to match the live edges of the table and essentially make a faux live edge.
View media item 88161
View media item 88162All sanded and ready for top coat. I decided to use a heat resistant bartop epoxy, DesignCrete Super Clear top coat, to coat the top of the table top, primarily because I was concerned with the finish, shall someone decide to set a hot dish on the table.
The heat resistant bartop epoxy would prevent yellowing or otherwise changing colors shall something hot be placed on it. The epoxy also helped fill a lot of small cracks, knots and other small inconsistencies in the surface of the table top.
View media item 88163I wanted to make mission style legs for the table, but given the weight of the table top, weighing in at over 200lbs, I opted to give it a bit of an industrial flare and constructed the legs for both the table and the bench out of 10ga 1x2" tubular steel.
View media item 88164
View media item 88165Prepping for welding.
After cutting, I ground the edges of all of the tubes flat and clean to allow for clean, tight joinery throughout.
View media item 88166I laid the top and bottom horizontal sections of the legs and marked them for the vertical pieces, then marked the top horizontal sections for drilling so that I could drill the bolt points before welding.
View media item 88167All tacked up.
View media item 88168
View media item 88169All welded, ground, polished and ready for paint.
I wanted all of the straight and outside edge joinery points to be flat and clean, so I ground down all of the welds and then used a sanding disc on a grinder to give a clean, flat, even surface throughout.
I left all of the inside corner welds to ensure the legs still had sufficient structural integrity.
View media item 88170Polished foot.
Once I had the table and bench legs powder coated, I installed 3/8" rivnuts in the base of each corner of the feet and installed 3/8" threaded thin base Teflon feet to prevent the table or bench legs from scratching the floor.
View media item 88171
View media item 88172
View media item 88173I drilled the top of the table legs every 12" throughout so that I could use 5/16" x 2-1/2" GRK RSS structural screws to hold the table top to the table legs.
I know that placing them every 12" was likely in excess for structural purposes, but my hope is that by doing so, the steel structure of the legs will prevent the table top from warping or distorting as it ages.
View media item 88174
View media item 88175Planing of the bench top.
The bench top was too wide to send through my stationary planer, but I did not want to cut it in half, plane it and then rejoin it, so I decided to use my 3" Skil 100 planer to roughly plane the bench down to an even surface and then sanded it smooth with a series of rough to fine grit belts and pads.
View media item 88176Sanded and routed
View media item 88177
View media item 88178I used a router to route in grooves in the bottom of the bench seat for the bench legs to fit into.
View media item 88179Test fitting the bench top to the bench legs.
View media item 88180Positioning and screwing the table legs into the table top.
View media item 88181
View media item 88182
View media item 88183Booth seat, table and bench finished and ready to go.
View media item 88184I didn't have a lot of time toward the end of the project to document the construction of the bench seat.
I constructed the bench seat out of 3/4" prefinished maple plywood, which I then dadoed to join all of the sections together.
View media item 88185I used a set of spring-loaded bench seat hinges which were capable of lifting 25lb a piece, which was more than sufficient for the 3/4" seat, 2.5" memory foam and fabric. I made the space under the bench into an enclosed storage space, which cut down on the appearance of clutter under the bench, while providing a pretty decent amount of storage.
View media item 88186
View media item 88135
View media item 88136The basis of the project is rough cut 2.5" silver or "white" maple which were locally sourced from the boulevards of Missoula, Montana.
I had a good friend I used to work with building houses who is now running their own mill who slabbed them for me. We allowed them to dry for most of the summer after milling before I transported them to my shop and began cutting and planing them down to workable and joinable slabs.
View media item 88137A lot of the slabs were too wide for my planer, in addition to having less than straight live edges, so I went through the assortment of slabs, picked the best 2 slabs for the outside edges and then began selecting slabs and trying to find the best angle to cut the slabs to allow for me to get the most material out of the slab.
I initially used a 2x2 piece of angle iron and a 1x2" piece of tubular steel as a straight edge for cutting, but couldn't get the straight cuts I wanted with either of these so I switched to a 5/8" x 5" piece of pre-finished MDF trim, which worked well as a straightedge and ended up producing much straighter cuts.
View media item 88138I initially was going to cut the slabs with my Bosch mag saw, but after having to cut the slabs before planing, I ended up having to switch with a saw with a little more depth.
My vintage 20A 12" Skil 127 worm drive saw ended up working perfect for the job. It was a little heavier to lug around than the mag saw, weighing in at just over 38lbs, but had PLENTY of power for slicing through the thick maple slabs and giving clean, square, straight cuts.
View media item 88139
View media item 88140A lot of the slabs were less than straight, which made getting straight, clean slabs for laminating a bit more difficult. Many of the slabs had to be cut into multiple smaller width pieces to optimize the number of useful slabs.
View media item 88141
View media item 88142I used a 10" planer and made 1/8" deep cuts on the boards to remove rough marks from milling and to give a clean, smooth surface to both the top and bottom of the boards before final sanding.
To ensure that all of the boards were the same thickness, I planed all of the boards through the planer before changing the depth setting and then repeated the process once I changed the depth.
View media item 88143I ended up having to take off quite a bit of material to get clean, smooth surface on both sides of the slabs.
View media item 88144Start of dry fitting and determining slab order. Some of the slabs had less than perfectly straight cuts, some of which I fixed by running them through the table saw, sanding, or a combination of both to get clean, tight joints between slabs.
View media item 88145
View media item 88146Once the slabs were laid out in order and fitment was where I wanted it, I marked all of the slabs for biscuit joining by marking a center line across adjoining slabs every 10" the length of the slabs.
I then used a biscuit joiner to cut the slot for the biscuits, filled the slots with glue, placed the biscuits and then glued the edge of the slab and joined it to the mating slab and repeated the process.
View media item 88147Clamping of individual slabs
View media item 88148
View media item 88149I made up sets of laminated slabs which were biscuit joined, glued and clamped, allowed to dry and then the larger slabs were joined, clamped and strapped to make the full table width slab.
View media item 88150
View media item 88151
View media item 88152I ran all of the slabs long past the desired length of the table. Once the glue dried on the entire table, I used a straight edge and cut the table to the desired length. This allowed for a much more uniform, straight edge than I would have got from cutting the slabs to desired length before joining.
View media item 88153
View media item 88154
View media item 88155Once I cut the slab to the desired length, I biscuit joined a 2x2 maple section perpendicular to the individual boards and joined each board into the 2x2 with biscuits. This will control any contraction of the individual slabs from one another if they had not yet completely dried at the point of building.
View media item 88156The table was too long to use any of the clamps I had available, so I used a set of straps to clamp the end sections to the primary slab.
View media item 88157
View media item 88158
View media item 88159
View media item 88160I used a grinder with a sanding disc to grind and sand the 2x2 ends to match the live edges of the table and essentially make a faux live edge.
View media item 88161
View media item 88162All sanded and ready for top coat. I decided to use a heat resistant bartop epoxy, DesignCrete Super Clear top coat, to coat the top of the table top, primarily because I was concerned with the finish, shall someone decide to set a hot dish on the table.
The heat resistant bartop epoxy would prevent yellowing or otherwise changing colors shall something hot be placed on it. The epoxy also helped fill a lot of small cracks, knots and other small inconsistencies in the surface of the table top.
View media item 88163I wanted to make mission style legs for the table, but given the weight of the table top, weighing in at over 200lbs, I opted to give it a bit of an industrial flare and constructed the legs for both the table and the bench out of 10ga 1x2" tubular steel.
View media item 88164
View media item 88165Prepping for welding.
After cutting, I ground the edges of all of the tubes flat and clean to allow for clean, tight joinery throughout.
View media item 88166I laid the top and bottom horizontal sections of the legs and marked them for the vertical pieces, then marked the top horizontal sections for drilling so that I could drill the bolt points before welding.
View media item 88167All tacked up.
View media item 88168
View media item 88169All welded, ground, polished and ready for paint.
I wanted all of the straight and outside edge joinery points to be flat and clean, so I ground down all of the welds and then used a sanding disc on a grinder to give a clean, flat, even surface throughout.
I left all of the inside corner welds to ensure the legs still had sufficient structural integrity.
View media item 88170Polished foot.
Once I had the table and bench legs powder coated, I installed 3/8" rivnuts in the base of each corner of the feet and installed 3/8" threaded thin base Teflon feet to prevent the table or bench legs from scratching the floor.
View media item 88171
View media item 88172
View media item 88173I drilled the top of the table legs every 12" throughout so that I could use 5/16" x 2-1/2" GRK RSS structural screws to hold the table top to the table legs.
I know that placing them every 12" was likely in excess for structural purposes, but my hope is that by doing so, the steel structure of the legs will prevent the table top from warping or distorting as it ages.
View media item 88174
View media item 88175Planing of the bench top.
The bench top was too wide to send through my stationary planer, but I did not want to cut it in half, plane it and then rejoin it, so I decided to use my 3" Skil 100 planer to roughly plane the bench down to an even surface and then sanded it smooth with a series of rough to fine grit belts and pads.
View media item 88176Sanded and routed
View media item 88177
View media item 88178I used a router to route in grooves in the bottom of the bench seat for the bench legs to fit into.
View media item 88179Test fitting the bench top to the bench legs.
View media item 88180Positioning and screwing the table legs into the table top.
View media item 88181
View media item 88182
View media item 88183Booth seat, table and bench finished and ready to go.
View media item 88184I didn't have a lot of time toward the end of the project to document the construction of the bench seat.
I constructed the bench seat out of 3/4" prefinished maple plywood, which I then dadoed to join all of the sections together.
View media item 88185I used a set of spring-loaded bench seat hinges which were capable of lifting 25lb a piece, which was more than sufficient for the 3/4" seat, 2.5" memory foam and fabric. I made the space under the bench into an enclosed storage space, which cut down on the appearance of clutter under the bench, while providing a pretty decent amount of storage.
View media item 88186
View media item 88135
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Its been a long time since I planed any wood but recall the mountain of chips that it makes 