Farmhouse Table

This one’s just a quick post to show off my experience with the Farmhouse Table plans from Ana White’s page. It’s a nice, straightforward design which goes together reasonably quick and uses affordable lumber (in our particular locale).

The one tip I’d have for building this table in Ontario is that if you’re buying box store lumber (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) be careful about selecting the right stuff. The cheap framing lumber that works for this table is usually “SPF”, which means it’s a potential mix of spruce, pine or fir. When I bought the stuff for this table it was all quite nice pine, but I know that in previous years they’ve had lots of ugly, cantankerous spruce. Haven’t run across fir yet…. in any case, I’d recommend purchasing some samples before you get started and ensure it’s the good stuff, and that it’ll retain it’s shape well.

Another thing I would consider if I was building again, would be to trade the 2×6 table top for a 1×6 or some other 1xX wood. The 2×6’s are extremely solid but man does it ever make this thing heavy! The table top alone it over 100lbs. It was quite a job getting this thing in from the garage.

 

Anyhow, here are some pictures.

Table Top Being Joined

Table Top Just Prior to Staining

The stain I picked was Minwax Jacobean, it was a nice dark stain that matched the decor in our dining room reasonably closely. It does a really good job of disguising the cheap lumber in this piece, although the more woodworking I do the more I am learning that what adds the most value in a piece is the amount of time spent on the finish. An unfinished version of this table can be whipped together easily in one day, but to get this looking like something I would want in my dining room took well over a week of sanding, coating, and drying cycles.

Table Top With First Coat of Stain

Table Legs Being Stained

Finished Product In It’s New Home