Friends in my neighbourhood, who have given me wood for my projects asked if there was sufficient Elm wood left in their barn to build them a large dining table.
a little research in shops and on the internet And we arrived at a simple traditional style.
With a limited supply of long timbers it was going to be a challenge to build a nine and a half by three and a half foot top, together with a trestle with four sturdy legs.
All the wood was re-sawn to fashion the planks which make up the table.
The top is made with twelve planks, each a lamination of three layers. This allowed the best wood to be used for the top surface. The planks were grooved on both edges and glued together with splines between each. A breadboard is attached at both ends secured with dowels hammered into elongated holes, to allow for seasonal movement of the top.
Laminations were also used to make sturdy blanks, then tapered on two sides to make sleek strong legs. The trestle and legs were joined together with blind mortise and tenon joinery.
The top is attached to the trestle with large screws let through slots cut in the trestle again to allow for seasonal movement in the top.
The table top and trestle were stained with an oil stain and spray finished with three coats of oil based polyurethane.