The Finish

I put one coat of LandArk's Concentrated Finish Oil on. It really darkened the darks and brightened the greens and yellows. The finish has citrus oil, linseed oil, tung oil, and beeswax as main ingredients. After 24 hours, it was still oily to the touch, so I buffed, sanded, and let it sit for one more day to see if it will dry better.

Semblance of a Table

I'm missing a few photos of clamping two sides together and then all four sides together, but here it is, four sides, all together- almost a table! I just need to cut and fit the top. Here are some photos of how the table (minus its top) will fit and store together with the LACK table. It actually fits!!



I cut a dado on the inside of each side panel. This is where my z-clips will sit to join the top together. This way, I won't have to glue the top down and the clips will allow for the wood to move as it likes.

Sides

Clamping the side panels together...my mider cuts were not perfect- so many 90 degree angles! - but it will hopefully look OK when it's all put together.

Finishing Test

I couldn't resist. I did a test with the finish I have in mind for my piece. It will require 2-3 applications, with at least a day of drying in between apps. But man, does it bring out the color! I used Land Ark's Natural Wood Finish.

Before:


After:

Sanded!

Today I used a great piece of machinery - the wide belt sander. Digitally controlled, it sanded my panels down from 75/100 to 71/100 or something like that. Amazing.

Gluing and Clamping

The next step was to glue the strips to form panels for my table. Each panel has three pieces to it. Gluing and clamping was a process that required more on the thinking and prepping side before actually executing. Once the glue is applied you have just a few minutes to set it and clamp it in place before the glue will start to bond.

Here are my clamped pieces, drying:





We made a sandwich. Clamped from the top, bottom, and sides, to ensure a smooth glue-up.





And here they are, a day after, all dried and glued together!





It's hard to tell if it was a good glue job or not - the edges are quite uneven, and the dried glue is covering up the seams. Next step is to sand it down. After that we'll be able to see how well they are pieced together.

Piecing the Puzzle

Last week was spent trying to piece together my puzzle of a table. Since some of the wood I bought was bowed and twisted, parts were not usable. What I ended up doing was cutting each piece down to a rough size, in hopes that the bowing and bending would ease up. Some pieces did, and some didn't. I now have a pile of cut pieces that are not straight enough to use, since I don't want to lose any more thickness. They were bought at 3/4". So, with the remaining usable pieces, I have to put them together in a seamless way....

Getting closer.....I layed it out with the top in the middle and the four sides surrounding. The goal was to find strips long enough to wrap 3 sides - the top and 2 sides next to it. The finished piece will show the end grain of the side panels as a frame around the top panel.








Think I got it.