Kitchen Table
This was my second furniture project, also in 2007 and also done partially in a course at the Living Arts Centre. It’s mostly the same as my first table except that this one has a split top and a removable leaf. In practise, we never use the leaf, but we do have it…
This is a pretty big table. With the leaf out it can seat 6, and the leaf adds 2 places for a total of 8. I made the dovetailed extension slides myself based on instructions I found in Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking, Book 3. The course included about 30 hours of shop time and making the extension slide ended up taking about 20 of them… so I built most of the rest of the table at home.
The top is oak plywood edged with solid oak, solid oak skirts and legs, and the finish is ordinary home centre stain and brushed polyurethane, rubbed out. I filled the pores of the oak by building up layers polyurethane. It ended up taking 10 coats or so to fill them, and as the finish continued to cure, it shrank and the pores ended up being a bit visible anyway. I actually like the way that ended up – it almost looked like a sheet of plastic before the pores showed.
The skirts on this table are a bit narrow, and the legs are about an inch too long, so the top is higher off the ground and I’m kinda concerned that the leg joints will give out at some point, but it’s still holding strong for now.
