In 2002 I built my first large piece, a 1550 X 1550 mm table for our dining room.
Sadly, as a novice I knew zip about wood movement, and I buggered it up. The top was made from solid quarter cut Vic Ash, cut to make a diamond pattern radiating from the centre and stained to match the rest of the furniture in the room and finished with hand polished acid cured lacquer to a mirror finish. It was beautiful ... for a while.
So far, so good ... but then I put a solid timber border around the table, failing to allow for wood movement. Acid cured lacquer is brittle, and it cracked near the corners where the diamond pattern met the border timbers as the wood moved a tad. The miracle is that this is all the damage there was. Given it's size, and given that the top was screwed directly to the frame in a gazillion places, it was a minor miracle that I did not get major buckling or splitting. I suppose being quarter cut helped.
Now it is time to replace the top. I have decided to replace all the furniture in my house once I retire, piece by piece, so I wanted something simple, inexpensive and pretty. Had a lump of Dillenia (very similar to reddish Silky Oak but more dense) measuring 80 X 250 X 1800 and some left over NG Rosewood. I cut this timber into 2.5 mm veneers. The Dillenia is for the top, and the Rosewood is for the balancing veneer underneath.
Here is a shot of the table (sans top) along with a shot of the cut veneers and a close up of the grain.
IMAG0707[1].jpg
IMAG0703[1].jpg
IMAG0705[1].jpg
The colours look all over the place, but this is a function of using a phone instead of a proper camera. The Dillenia is reddish, not golden as it looks in the flash pic. Once it is finished I'll take a shot with a proper camera and a bounce flash.
Sadly, as a novice I knew zip about wood movement, and I buggered it up. The top was made from solid quarter cut Vic Ash, cut to make a diamond pattern radiating from the centre and stained to match the rest of the furniture in the room and finished with hand polished acid cured lacquer to a mirror finish. It was beautiful ... for a while.
So far, so good ... but then I put a solid timber border around the table, failing to allow for wood movement. Acid cured lacquer is brittle, and it cracked near the corners where the diamond pattern met the border timbers as the wood moved a tad. The miracle is that this is all the damage there was. Given it's size, and given that the top was screwed directly to the frame in a gazillion places, it was a minor miracle that I did not get major buckling or splitting. I suppose being quarter cut helped.
Now it is time to replace the top. I have decided to replace all the furniture in my house once I retire, piece by piece, so I wanted something simple, inexpensive and pretty. Had a lump of Dillenia (very similar to reddish Silky Oak but more dense) measuring 80 X 250 X 1800 and some left over NG Rosewood. I cut this timber into 2.5 mm veneers. The Dillenia is for the top, and the Rosewood is for the balancing veneer underneath.
Here is a shot of the table (sans top) along with a shot of the cut veneers and a close up of the grain.
IMAG0707[1].jpg
IMAG0703[1].jpg
IMAG0705[1].jpg
The colours look all over the place, but this is a function of using a phone instead of a proper camera. The Dillenia is reddish, not golden as it looks in the flash pic. Once it is finished I'll take a shot with a proper camera and a bounce flash.
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