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RWW 183 Picnic Style Dining Table Part 1

13 comments
10 years ago
Picnic Style Dining Table     Projects     Videos

In this part 1 I focus on milling the quite substantial 10/4 and 12/4 Walnut stock and joint and gluing up the parts of the top. Here again I present my hybrid milling process that I detailed in episode 182, but it should be noted that it is possible to use this same process on the edges of the boards. A general rule of thumb is that you should not run a board through the planer whose width is more than 3 times the thickness. So with me using 2.5″ thick Walnut for the legs, I can comfortably run the 4″ width and quickly surface them on 4 sides.

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Cesar

Nice redesign, Shannon!

How is the noise with your spiral head planer? I currently can only use my lunch-box planer (DW 735) during the day because it’s just too loud and would wake up the kids (102 decibels!). At nights, in my basement shop I can run my single stage dust collector and my bandsaw without noise concerns, but the planer is just too loud. I do most of my work by hand, except thicknessing and long rips, for which I have a bandsaw and the said planer.

I will not stop wearing ear protection, but was wondering if a planer such as yours would allow me to work at nights without disturbing the kids.

    Shannon

    Cesar it is definitely quieter but I don’t have a way to measure it nor do I have another planer to compare it with. My old Dewalt 735 left the shop more than a year ago. Based on my own memory is is substantially quieter but you have to remember this 220V motor is an entirely different type that is already quieter than the benchtop, screaming varieties so it is hard to say whether it is the motor or the cutterhead that makes such a difference. Put it this way, my 1.5 HP dust collector is much louder than the planer at work. In my house I could not work without waking somebody up, but then again the shop sits right below the bedrooms too.

      Cesar

      Thanks!

      That 1.5HP dust collector comparison is probably good enough for me to get a good sense. Those things work at around 80db. I realize that going to an induction motor is already quieter, but seems that the spiral heads help a good deal more. I have seen felder/hammer videos when they measure the noise on their J/P combos with and without the spiral head and the noise reduction is about 10db, which is huge. I was wondering how the Grizzly would compare; since they don’t list decibels in their planer specs, but the technicians told me over the phone that you cold carry a conversation next to the machine running.

    John Fitz

    Cesar – I have that same planer, but with a Shelix; it’s definitely quieter than with the conventional knives, but it’s still pretty loud. I have read some posts from users who have removed the internal chip-ejection fan which significantly reduced the noise. Granted, then you’re at the mercy of how good your external dust collection is, but it’s worth a shot. I have not tried this yet but I am considering it.

Michael

Shannon,

I was hoping that you were going to put this in a nice video blog format. I have been keeping an eye on your posts as you built this table. I like the way you described the process of working with the client and coming together on a design that fit the bill, so to speak. You also anticipated my question on why didn’t you plane to table top boards together before gluing them.

TTFN,
Michael

    Shannon

    Thanks Michael, I’m always telling my students that learning the fundamental way to do something even though there is a “short cut” technique out there will eventually save your butt. These boards are the perfect example.

Khaled

I’ve been hearing about the picnic table on wooodtalk and I’m glad your releasing videos on it. Milling all these boards by hand seems painful but looks like you go great results. I use power tools but I value hand tools work more! I have to say that I laughed when I saw the scene with your feet and shavings falling on the floor, maybe my mind is dirty but along with the music the scene seemed pornographic (I really don’t mean any disrespect). Hopefully you think its funny too.

Eric

Shannon,

Excellent presentation. I fancy myself a hybrid woodworker, and the hand tool quota of my work has increased, in part due to your explanations and demonstrations of the precision that can be often be attained by hand, sans dust and noise, to-boot. Thanks.

I am unable to download your linked Sketchup and parts-list files; a file name appears, but a count of zero bytes are associated with them. Would appreciate your looking into this.

Thanks,

Eric

    Shannon

    Sorry about that Eric, I had to fix a permissions issue with those files but it is all working now.

John Fitz

Great video. I’m envious of how sharp your planes are – that is definitely a skill I am still working to improve.

I like the redesign – a beefier surface and supporting structure will make the table much more substantial. The significantly larger trestle should also add some lower weight to make the entire table more stable.