Kitchen Table Re Build

The first week, of Rosewood's winter 12 week craftsmen program, has just ended.  Lucky for me I still had a bench space this week, only 7 students, so I began repairing my kitchen table.  When I got the table as payment for helping a friend clean out his garage (so practically free) it was in very rough shape.  The finish was faded and scratched, the table was wobbly and coming apart and the whole thing needed a good cleaning, and after living with it in this state for roughly a year I figured it was time for some fixing.

I removed the top from the base, scraped and sanded it down, to remove scratches and blemishes.  I was surprised to learn that the top is made of walnut, not surprisingly the top is made up of many thin strips and little to no care was taken to achieve good grain matches, so I will be staining the top to unify the colour of the heart and sap wood before I put a finish on.

Blue tape to keep the epoxy off the wood surrounding the joints

The base of the table was assembled with dowels and glue, and all of the joints on the stretcher had failed.  I separated the joints the best I could and glued everything back together with epoxy.  Epoxy will stick to just about anything so I did not have to remove the old glue.  A few hours later and I had a solid base again, no more fear of my table collapsing in the middle of a nice Sunday dinner.

The repaired table base

Next step will be to stain and finish the table top.  I am not going to stain and finish the base of the table.  The table is not worth the time it would take to protect it with finish and the base will not be seen much so there is no need to make it look any better than it does.  The top will be seen and abused much more so it is worth the time to add protection and improve its appearance.  This will also give me a chance to try a new finishing product.  I am constantly looking for sustainable solutions in my woodworking, so for this table top I will try using a waterborne stain and finish.  Better to practice on a piece for myself then on a client's piece if I like the result and it is easy enough to work with I will use it on other jobs.

Next week is the mastering machinery class at Rosewood, and it is fully booked, so normally I would have no space to work in.  Ron however moved a small work bench into a corner of the machine room and I will be able to work there for the next two weeks.

My other bench space.

Once the table is finished I will be posting photo's here as well as my website http://www.h3designconstruction.com/

Cheers

Hans Christopher