Building a Walnut Dining Table for Thanksgiving

[Eagleye]

Follow along with my "build".

Below are the specs for the new table being built in the next few weeks:

• Walnut Top - approx 44in wide X 168in (14ft) long with extensions in place.
• Painted Whitewood Legs
• (2) Walnut benches
• Wayfair chairs for remaining seating

The steps that will be taken:
Step 1: Purchase rough cut lumber (done)
Step 2: Plane wood (starting & maybe finishing today)
Step 3: Joint 1 edge
Step 4: Cut to width on table saw
Step 5: Assemble top w/ biscuits
Step 6: Cut top to uniform length
Step 7: Add "breadboard" ends
Step 8: Cut and glue up 6 legs
Step 9: Plane & sand legs
Step 10: Sand top
Step 11: Paint legs and oil/stain & urethane top
Step 12: Assemble Table
Step 13: Build (2) bench seats
Step 14: Assemble chairs from Wayfair
Step 15: Eat some Turkey

 

[Eagleye]

CAD image from my design.

 

[Alin]

This is neat. I can't wait to see the finished product. How much do you estimate all of the parts will cost? Any idea how intensive the labor will be to attain the finished product?

I have two questions that you will answer after you complete it:
-How labor intensive was the entire process?
-Would you do it again?

 

[Eagleye]

Before planing.



After planing. I made one spot slightly wet to show the coloring better.



DIY dust capture system.

View attachment 7905

 

[Eagleye]

Made some progress today.
Through step 5.

 

[Alin]

How many hours do you have into it so far? Is it difficult or just time consuming?

 

[Eagleye]

How many hours do you have into it so far? Is it difficult or just time consuming?

I've done a good bit of wood working in the past. So mainly just time.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Eagleye]

Well I got it done in time. Here are some of the last steps and the semi-final product.

 

[Grinder34]

Man that came out nicely! The chairs look great with it too!

 

[Alin]

Wow, that looks sick! How many hours in total did it take to complete it? Would you do it again?

 

[Eagleye]

Wow, that looks sick! How many hours in total did it take to complete it? Would you do it again?

Thanks man. I don't have a total but I would guess about 30hrs start to finish of my time. My father-in-law helped for about 8hrs and my buddy with the woodworking shop helped me for about 6hrs. He's a beast though, so that was worth about 10hrs of my time. So if I did the whole thing myself (hard given the size of the table) it would have been about 50-60hrs. Cost me about $1,000 including the 10 chairs. I am still going to be making a bench for one side with a gorgeous 15in wide walnut board from the same batch of wood as the table top.

And absolutely, wood working is so much more satisfying than working on a car haha. It has many of the same pitfalls (spending too much on toys and upgrades) but its a great process start to finish. I liked doing the table more than when I have built kitchen cabinets in the past.

Man that came out nicely! The chairs look great with it too!

Thanks, I only assembled the chairs. The wife picked them out. Wayfair FTW.

 

[Alin]

Thanks man. I don't have a total but I would guess about 30hrs start to finish of my time. My father-in-law helped for about 8hrs and my buddy with the woodworking shop helped me for about 6hrs. He's a beast though, so that was worth about 10hrs of my time. So if I did the whole thing myself (hard given the size of the table) it would have been about 50-60hrs. Cost me about $1,000 including the 10 chairs. I am still going to be making a bench for one side with a gorgeous 15in wide walnut board from the same batch of wood as the table top.




Thanks, I only assembled the chairs. The wife picked them out. Wayfair FTW.

Please update this thread with pictures when you make the bench! :tup:

 

[Eagleye]

Please update this thread with pictures when you make the bench! :tup:

Will do!