Building a Walnut Dining Table for Thanksgiving

Eagleye

Tinkerer
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

Tinkerer
Table style 1 with extensions.jpg

CAD image from my design.
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
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

Tinkerer
Before planing.

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

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DIY dust capture system.

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Alin

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

Eagleye

Tinkerer
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
 
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Eagleye

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

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Alin

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

Eagleye

Tinkerer
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

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
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:
 
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