Kitchen bar height table FINISHED

[Mike Davis]

We decided to keep the bar top from the old house and add legs to it for a bar height table. I cut some locust posts from the farm and a special sassafras limb that the kids used to sit in when they were little. Then a couple maple saplings that had vines wrapped around as they grew to make spiral knobby stringers.

The parts look like this...

And when I get it all put together I'll take a few more pics.


Here it is in the kitchen.

The girls couldn't wait to sit at their favorite table.

 

[kave]

Re: Kitchen bar height table

Very Cool! Nice use of natural stuff just laying around. True imagination at work!

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Re: Kitchen bar height table

Now that's a great use for that butcher block top from the old house. :icon_thum

Bill

 

[farmerbw]

Re: Kitchen bar height table

Bro that looks real nice and will definitely have lots of sentimental value once completed. :eusa_clap:icon_thum

Did you hand cut the tenons?


Brian.

 

[Mike Davis]

Re: Kitchen bar height table

Brian,

I cut the big tenons on my lathe before we moved it.

The small ones for the cross braces I cut on the lathe last night by turning the lathe with one hand and holding my skew with the other hand.

I'm hoping to get a 220v sub-panel mounted and wired within the next couple weeks.

 

[farmerbw]

Re: Kitchen bar height table

Dang, real nice job on them. :thumbs_up They're so clean and "square" looking I thought they coulda been done with cutters, but I was fairly certain that wasn't the case.

Brian.

 

[Mike Davis]

Re: Kitchen bar height table

Turning the tenons was the easy part. They shrank a little after I turned them so each hole had to be sized to fit the tenon. I have an old adjustable brace bit that I sharpened and set up in my drill press. I drilled a test hole for each tenon then set the table in place to do the holes.

 

[Jeff]

Re: Kitchen bar height table

Mike,

That's pretty nifty from concept to execution. Nicely done! :thumbs_up

 

[Mike Davis]

Finished pics are now in the first post.

 

[farmerbw]

Excellent job bro. :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

What finish did you go with on the legs and stretchers?

Brian.

 

[b4man]

I love it! :eusa_clap


Barbara

 

[Mike Davis]

It is quick dry satin poly. I have a gallon of the stuff and figured I'd never use it on anything else.

I didn't know the gray bark would turn dark brown with the poly. I would have used something else. I really wanted the gray for contrast.

But, overall it works. And I got very lucky on the legs, all four legs touch the floor! When I laid a level on it the table is dead level from end to end and about 1/4 out of level from side to side.


Close enough. :rotflm:

 

[FredP]

Thats some fine lookin furniture Mike! Good on ya.:icon_thum:icon_thum
I would like to come out in April if I have the time. Gotta see the place lived in.:gar-Bi Have a job now so we will see......

 

[farmerbw]

And I got very lucky on the legs, all four legs touch the floor

!

Mike, that's always my fear and why I'm reluctant to try more natural/log leg items. I did one and it was heck getting it leveled even though I did my best to cut all the legs the same length. I could definitely use some practice and pointers on what methods work for everyone else...but that's a topic for another thread one day.....

Unfortunately there isn't much in the way of top coats that I've used that don't darken bark to some degree or other. It's still a real nice looking table though and one that will surely be passed down for lots more family to enjoy. :thumbs_up

Brian.

 

[Mike Davis]

Fred,

Come anytime! The doors still look and work GREAT! We get compliments from everybody who see them. And the wash stand is so nice it should be in the living room.

Glad you found a steady paycheck.

 

[leftoflefty]

Very nice work Mike. I love the table legs. :thumbs_up:thumbs_up

 

[stfarmer]

That is the lathe of my dreams. What kind is it? Where did you get it?

 

[Mike Davis]

It has no name and I found it on craig's list. Bought it in Greensboro, about 5 miles from where I work.

$500 for the lathe, $300 for the chuck from Oneway, and undisclosed amount for the variable drive from a friend.

I waited almost twenty years for the right lathe to come along at the right price and in a place where I could use it.

I have seen many lathes and owned several, but this one was meant to be mine.