i bought most of the wood for this project from a guy in hillsborough who sells walnut slabs, he usually has a CL post up. Its not a commercial operation so the boards reflect this, a little bit knotty. when i bought these maybe 8 years ago, i was just happy to find cheap walnut. however, my eye for good lumber wasn't very developed. I've had quite a bit of waste to get to this point.
the top comes from two slabs, each containing the pith. I've cut the center out of both. I got really lucky with the center glue up, its not super prominent. the cathedral looks almost like it goes together. pleased with how this part came out.
the support structure is connected to the top with a sliding dovetail. I routed in from one side and will fill that once everything is glued up.
that piece is attached the legs by a shouldered half lap. that is connected to the feet by big half inch double tenons.
i still need a piece that connects the legs and will receive the trestle. some final comments:
-the legs and feet are 4x4s and a real pain to deal with....table saw won't cut thru them, tenon jig can't handle that size either, I don't have a chop saw (which would be nearly maxed out as well unless you had a 12 inch)
>this was a mistake that i could have avoided just planing the material to just under 3.5 but i wanted to leave the thickness
-i had to buy a little extra walnut for a couple pieces due to all the waste - this was kiln dried.
>kiln dried is brown, thats about all i can say about it. you get none of the golds, reds, deep chocolate, even greens you see in air dried
-using 8/4 for the top has caused me to beef up all the lower parts to try and make it more stable - another choice i could have avoided
-the leg assembly actually came out square!
> with mortise and tenons at bottom, half laps at the top and the connecting pieces being two different lengths, i had to work off center lines, a ton of room to mess this up
- i will be spraying with general finishes outdoor 450 satin water based poly
-in addition to the trestle, there will be stainless steel footrests going from leg to leg
the top comes from two slabs, each containing the pith. I've cut the center out of both. I got really lucky with the center glue up, its not super prominent. the cathedral looks almost like it goes together. pleased with how this part came out.
the support structure is connected to the top with a sliding dovetail. I routed in from one side and will fill that once everything is glued up.
that piece is attached the legs by a shouldered half lap. that is connected to the feet by big half inch double tenons.
i still need a piece that connects the legs and will receive the trestle. some final comments:
-the legs and feet are 4x4s and a real pain to deal with....table saw won't cut thru them, tenon jig can't handle that size either, I don't have a chop saw (which would be nearly maxed out as well unless you had a 12 inch)
>this was a mistake that i could have avoided just planing the material to just under 3.5 but i wanted to leave the thickness
-i had to buy a little extra walnut for a couple pieces due to all the waste - this was kiln dried.
>kiln dried is brown, thats about all i can say about it. you get none of the golds, reds, deep chocolate, even greens you see in air dried
-using 8/4 for the top has caused me to beef up all the lower parts to try and make it more stable - another choice i could have avoided
-the leg assembly actually came out square!
> with mortise and tenons at bottom, half laps at the top and the connecting pieces being two different lengths, i had to work off center lines, a ton of room to mess this up
- i will be spraying with general finishes outdoor 450 satin water based poly
-in addition to the trestle, there will be stainless steel footrests going from leg to leg
