Designing and Building a dining table

dwhatty wrote:
Sorry I don't have a pic of the table opened up.

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David:

In 4 or 5 months, when the snow & ice are gone & the boat is back in the water, I would love to see a photo of said table in the open position also.

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-- Edited by SeaHorse II on Thursday 26th of January 2012 11:02:06 AM

David and Emily, *It sounds like you have achieved exactly what we are hoping to do... ie having the table reach across the width of the salon to both settees. *

The biggest difference in what we woud*need to build is that our table would be wider - 56" instead of the 46" than yours is (our base table would be 28" wide with 2 x 14" leafs. *Our table is also longer - 52" instead of 38". *Do you think your design would support the larger size? * Or would a double pedestle base (which is what we currently have) work?

We'd appreciate your thoughts!

Delia Rosa wrote:
David and Emily, *It sounds like you have achieved exactly what we are hoping to do... ie having the table reach across the width of the salon to both settees. *

The biggest difference in what we woud*need to build is that our table would be wider - 56" instead of the 46" than yours is (our base table would be 28" wide with 2 x 14" leafs. *Our table is also longer - 52" instead of 38". *Do you think your design would support the larger size? * Or would a double pedestle base (which is what we currently have) work?

We'd appreciate your thoughts!

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I don't know why your size wouldn't work as long as the base were wide/long enough to support it stably. Double pedestal might work as well.

I did a mock up out of cheap ply first to check out the design(s).

We used the pedestal from Arrigoni shown about 1/2 way down this page, the anodized alum one with the square top mounting plate and round bottom plate. The round bottom plate is mounted on top of a square piece of solid teak and the top plate is mounted to another piece of solid teak that is screwed and glued to the underside of the teak plywood table top.

Arrigoni has other types of pedestals that are more aesthetically pleasing than the one we used. We had to go with the one we did because of the range of vertical motion we required. If you did not have to drop the table to a low bed height, some of their other pedestal are nice.

If you want to foot the bill, once you have your dimensions, Arrigoni will finish the design and build it for you. They do good work, but are not inexpensive.

Here's a link to some of their tables.

Thank you for the link. *Arrigoni does seem to do very nice work... unfortunately, way out of our price range... *

I guess the next step is to mock up a plywood version of the two different designs we are considering - what I will think of as the dwhatty movable two-folded-leaf design, and the charles sliding top design with the singe-folded leaf!

Dan:

Found these of the galley counters.* The main cabin is a bit torn up today, as A new sound shield is going on the genset, so the table pics could be a while.

SeaHorse II wrote:
David:

In 4 or 5 months, when the snow & ice are gone & the boat is back in the water, I would love to see a photo of said table in the open position also.

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Keith, nice job on the counters.... I like that you kept the fiddles.

If you want to use cherry, I have a barn full...probably a couple of thousand board feet. 4/4 5/4, 8,4 and 12/4. Some of it has been dryng for 10 years and some of it I cut* and had sawn last year. Some of the boards are 12 feet long and probably 14" wide. I have 48 acres and whenever we lose a tree, I take it to the sawmill. Have walnut, cherry, white and red oak, and tons*of poplar, some hickory. You can ha e whatever you need for free...just figure out how to ship it.

The wider the board the more likely it is*to warp or cup. Thicker is not necessarily better as weight accumilates rapidly . When I was building Annie we could get teak for bout $10 per bf. I recently did a quick project for* friend and it had reached $30 per bf in Houston Texas. Cherry is light but fairly soft but is probably half the weight of teak. Easy to work and stain. Has a retty uniform grain with few knots. This is our table. I used 5/16*teak oveer plywood. Plywood is very stable, fairly light and does not tend to move.

Where are you loccated??

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Whistledoc wrote:*This is our table. I used 5/16*teak oveer plywood. Plywood is very stable, fairly light and does not tend to move.

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*Doc,

Have you thought about making one of those tables that is 8' around*and then by moving the outside ring it goes to 12' or some other larger size. I think the outer ring moves and through some levers it seperates and draws some pieces up from under the table to form the larger table.* Like a Chinese puzzle.

Whistledoc wrote:
*Have walnut, cherry, white and red oak, and tons*of poplar, some hickory. You can ha e whatever you need for free...just figure out how to ship it.*

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*Hey Doc ya got any birch?

I cut down a tree in my friends yard and used the wood for my trim but I am out. I'm looking for some 3/8"x 2"x*8'*I want to install celings in the*V birth.

SD


-- Edited by skipperdude on Thursday 26th of January 2012 04:16:22 PM

Whistledoc wrote:
If you want to use cherry, I have a barn full...probably a couple of thousand board feet. 4/4 5/4, 8,4 and 12/4. Some of it has been dryng for 10 years and some of it I cut* and had sawn last year. Some of the boards are 12 feet long and probably 14" wide. I have 48 acres and whenever we lose a tree, I take it to the sawmill. Have walnut, cherry, white and red oak, and tons*of poplar, some hickory. You can ha e whatever you need for free...just figure out how to ship it.

The wider the board the more likely it is*to warp or cup. Thicker is not necessarily better as weight accumilates rapidly . When I was building Annie we could get teak for bout $10 per bf. I recently did a quick project for* friend and it had reached $30 per bf in Houston Texas. Cherry is light but fairly soft but is probably half the weight of teak. Easy to work and stain. Has a retty uniform grain with few knots. This is our table. I used 5/16*teak oveer plywood. Plywood is very stable, fairly light and does not tend to move.

Where are you loccated??

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Whistledoc, your boat is quite a wonder, your table is amazing, and I wish we had even a small portion of your wood-working skills. *

We live in St. Catharines Ontario Canada and keep our boat at Point Breeze on Lake Ontario in New York State (about a 1/2 hour from Rochester). *We will probably decide on cherry for our table because, as you mention, it does seem to be an easy wood to work with and stain with fairly uniform grain.

Interesting that you mention that you have hickory as well. *We used hickory when we installed wood floors in our home and we also used it for our kitchen cabinets.. not widely available here in Canada, but I love it!

Dan:
The counters are fitted on top of the original plywood with Formica. I moved the sinks over to give better access to the propane stove top, so I had to cut out a fair amount of the original top to get the sinks moved. The old fiddles were glued on securely so didn't provide anything re-usable, but I had some good sized teak left from the swimgrid project, so new fiddles were simple. I don't have enough left for a table, or it might have been done sooner.

I am warming to your wide table idea, especially if you use two 14" wide wings that rest on top of the 28" portion. The thing I dislike is blocking access between the rear door and the pilothouse, and having to use a portable support. with the style wings you are now contemplating, you can use slide-out supports that will rest under the centre portion and be extended when you flip the wings over. Some as I have on mine, which just happen to be 14" wings that make mine longer, instead of wider. Do you intend to use fiddles? They add a little interest, but may be a PITA when you try to use the table. If you had a huge, round table, like the Doc, fiddles would look perfect. Like you, I can only gape in awe at the accomplishment of "Annie"!

My table:

Went to check on the boat and the winter mold growth today (bumper crop!) and took these pics of our table for those who wanted them.

dwhatty wrote:
Went to check on the boat and the winter mold growth today (bumper crop!) and took these pics of our table for those who wanted them.

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******** Beautiful!* Nice addition to a great little trawler!

Thanks for taking the pictures.... It does look wonderful and it sures helps to visualize the project better!

I've continued to do more research on the discussion of veneer vs solid wood. *I've chatted with several people on the Wooden Boat forum and a couple of cabinet makers have assured me that working with solid wood shouldn't be a problem as long as I use correct techniques... in fact, one of them posted a picture of a table he constructed from solid face grain cherry, built for his boat nine years ago. *It looks fantastic!*


-- Edited by Delia Rosa on Sunday 29th of January 2012 05:17:17 PM

Delia Rosa wrote:
Thanks for taking the pictures.... It does look wonderful and it sures helps to visualize the project better!

I've continued to do more research on the discussion of veneer vs solid wood. *I've chatted with several people on the Wooden Boat forum and a couple of cabinet makers have assured me that working with solid wood shouldn't be a problem as long as I use correct techniques... in fact, one of them posted a picture of a table he constructed from solid face grain cherry, built for his boat nine years ago. *It looks fantastic!*



-- Edited by Delia Rosa on Sunday 29th of January 2012 05:17:17 PM

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*Do you have a link to the picture?

this is the link up to the latest post.... the section below is from*
<strong style="font-style:inherit;">kc8pql[/b]*



Senior Member*

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?88432-Veneer-Rant&p=3284897#post3284897

"Yes, of course you can. You just need to use proper material choice and building technique. Use fairly narrow pieces. Two to four inches wide would be best, nothing more than six inches. Choose vertical grain stock if at all possible. If you have to use flat grain material, keep the strips narrow and alternate the curve on the annual rings up and down. Don't use a mitered frame around the top, breadboard ends that are fastened the entire width of the top, or use any other construction method that restricts wood movement across the grain. When you varnish the top, finish the bottom using the same number of coats as you do on the top.

<br style="color:#333333;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:#fafafa;" />Here's Alaya's table. Solid flat grain cherry, edge glued, the support crossmember is fastened to the top with thumb screws at each end through oversized holes in metal L brackets. It was built nine years ago and is still dead flat."<br style="color:#333333;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:#fafafa;" /><br style="color:#333333;font-family:Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:#fafafa;" />

Thanks. Nice looking table. Not to mention nice looking interior.

dwhatty wrote:
nice looking table. Not to mention nice looking interior.

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