Last week, I wrapped up a dining table for my sister & sister-in-law. This was a special project as it will be kept in the family, hopefully for many generations. This modern, farmhouse style dining table features clean lines and simplicity which allows the wood to be the star of the show. White Oak is a gorgeous choice for this piece with its warm brown tones and flowing grain. The cathedrals in the grain break up the linear design to add character and movement to a contemporary design.
This piece didn’t require a large amount of joinery, but the joints I chose are extremely strong. To begin, I started with the X-legs. These are joined with a half lap joint, where half of the material from each leg is removed allowing the two pieces to intersect one another. The most challenging part of this was calculating the angles to make the legs 28″ tall and about 30″ wide. After breaking out my high school trigonometry skills and one headache later, I figured out all of the angles and measurements to cut the joint precisely. A few passes over a dado blade and fine tuning with a hand plane resulted in a great fitting joint. A little sanding and breaking the edges with a small chamfer finished legs.
Next up were the stretchers. Two smaller stretchers and one large one create a base that will never rack. The large stretcher is joined with a mortise and tenon reinforced with two structural lag screws in each end plugged with solid wood. The upper stretchers are joined with a sliding dovetail through the top of the leg. This is one of my favorite joints to cut. Its is extremely strong and nothing is more satisfying that assembling a perfect fitting dovetail joint!
The table top is made of edge glued boards reinforced with floating domino tenons. I like using the domino joiner on large tops like this as I think they really help hold the piece flat in the clamps. The top is secured to the base with stainless steel threaded inserts and knockdown bolts.
I finished this piece with Osmo Polyx Oil. This is an all natural, zero VOC hard wax oil finish. It provides excellent water/stain resistance with artificially coating the piece with a film. I love these finishes as they help preserve the natural look and feel of the wood while protecting the piece.
Whitehurst Custom Woodworking 