Well the hall table project got off to a rough start with me injuring my back not even an hour into starting the project, but after several days of rest I was able to get back into the shop and make some real progress.

The Design

While designing this table I was intending to come up with something that was both elegant and little bit modern looking, and by using several different design choices such as; tapered legs, exposed joinery, and subtle curves on the tabletop I believe I achieved this goal.

The Timber

The timber I decided to use for this project came from a single local marri tree that was fallen to make way for a road. The fact that this tree was fallen to make way for a new road and not logged by a timber company is very important as marri is surrounded with alot of different environmental issues.

The biggest issue for me is the fact that our native black cockatoos that are under serious threat of extinction due to lack of habitat, and marri trees are what these beautiful birds  nest in.

A big reason why these birds are running out of they’re natural habitat is due to timber companies destroying huge numbers of marri trees as marri is seen as a 2nd grade timber these companies are either ripping out all of the marri the tree’s out to make way for the prized Jarrah trees to grow and/or killing them with herbicides to ensure they dont grow back. These actions affect the entire forest(s) in some pretty big way.

This obviosley is a real problem with how our local forrestry managent is being run.

Construction

During the designing stage of this project I was planning to try as many new methods of doing things as possible. It didnt really matter what operation it was I just wanted to try something new whether it was tapering the legs, cutting curves or making mortises I really wanted to experiment with as many different methods as possible to widen my skill set.

With that said I kept finding myself automatically going to the tried and tested methods that I’m used to doing, you know… cutting tenons the same old way at the table saw. I did experiment a little bit though, I cut the through mortises  using a router mortising jig, a method I hadent used before, and I cut tapers at the table saw for the first time using a method I had not seen anyone else use before (I’m claiming it as my own) instead of using the bandsaw or router, but  this was about the extent of it.

The Finish

While browsing one of the local woodworking stores around my area I came across a new wax based finish.
Its made of a blend of Beeswax, orange oil and loads of other nice smelling things that is super easy to apply and brings a nice gentle glow to the wood.

Before I jump to conclusions I need to give this table a bit of time to be used and abused to see how the finish holds up but I have a feeling I might have found my new favourite wax-based finish!

Videos

So as you should know part 1 of the build is currently online for JWS.com viewers and part 2 will be live on the november 6th with parts 3-4 to follow soon after that.

If you have been to the website recently you would have noticed a new feature up near the logo. Its a “UPCOMING VIDEOS”  calendar, so if you want to know when the next video will be making its way onto JordsWoodShop just have a squizz up there for a date.

As always a big thanks for reading and visiting oh and did you know you can now subscribe via email to JordsWoodShop.com? Just head over the the subscriptions page

Jordan