The Dining Room Table

Dining Room Table
This table took two months to completion.
The ¾”slat pieces in this table were from reclaimed wood. A neighbor long ago had built mock ceiling beams. The recent resident tore them out during remodeling and put them curbside for pickup. The 6” x 14’ pine boards were painted brown. Lumber of this length would be very expensive to buy. And consideration was also made in how long a tree that size would have taken to grow. After talking with Aaron my neighbor and asking permission, I dawned my best Hamburgular thievery walk- short and quick pointed steps. I snatched those boards up and brought them back to my lair (house).
Once finish sanded the top was oil stained to the resulting color effect of lemon/natural, a color that brightened up the dining room considerably. The bottom, top and sides of the tabletop surface were coated with Envirotex Lite Epoxy, for a durable glass like top finish. The epoxy proved to be a challenge by coating the garage during the cold Wisconsin winter. I installed a heating lamp and coated when I could keep the surface temperature above 50F and kept the resin and hardener inside before mixing. After the final flood coat I brought the top inside after a day or two to complete the slow cure after initial hardening.
After a few course changes it turned out beautifully and was ready for our Christmas dinner with cards played on it afterwards.
The laminated board structure of the top is reinforced with four 7/16” threaded rods snugging it up cross sectionally.
The leg structure is proprietarily stained. The resulting green embossed pattern to the grain is meant to symbolize new growth that blossoms into the contrasting stable interwoven structural top that weighs over 130 pounds. The brown washers with black bolt heads securing the legs create and symbolize the “petrification” of a witch’s eye 

COPYRIGHT 2009 THOMAS PAUL MURPHY