Several thoughts.

1) You probably can't build it cheaper than you can buy it if you compare
to the low-end. At $1200, it doesn't sound like you're looking at the
low-end, though. But if you take into account the amount of time, the
tools, and possible wasted wood it will take to learn to build it, I doubt
you'll come close to breaking even. Of course, the same can be said for
anything I do with wood and tools.

2) There's nothing saying you can't do it all by hand (i.e. don't purchase
the jointer/planer, which is where I'd think you'd want to start). Of
course, you better be prepared for a physical workout, and learn to sharpen
your hand planes real good!

3) I find it personally offensive that you'd take a wood like ash
(hopefully that's what you meant) or oak, and then stain it to basically
match walnut. If you want a nice rich dark color, start with a wood that's
already that color. J/K on the personally offended, BTW, but I really do
like walnut as a wood, and find it particularly attractive when simply
oiled. For a table, you'd need more protection than that, I would think. I
think I like walnut so much because it reminds me of chocolate, especially
when hand planing it, and you see all those lovely curly shavings on the
floor. Around here, the price difference between oak and walnut is pretty
negligible.

4) If you do choose to make it, do some looking around at cabinet shops,
wood-working shops, etc in your area, and see if any of them can do the belt
sanding for you. Might cost you $100 or so, but much cheaper than buying
your own sander, especially if it's something you're not going to use on a
regular basis.

Clint (who has never built a dining room table in his life, danced on one or
two, and eaten at many...)

"Shawn" wrote in message
om...
Hey all,

We sold our 6ft pine retangular dining table, and have been shopping
around for new ones. The only one we REALLY like is a DINEC table.
It is about 7ft long and then extendes to around 10 or 11ft. We need
to seat 10 people comfortably, with the option to seat 12. The
problem with this table is that it will take 4 months to come in and
the cost is around $1200-1300. So, I have to ask myself, would it be
cheaper to build and have some of that $$$ go towards tools?

I haven't built anything that large yet so I was wondering what do you
think it would cost to build something just like the dintec and how
hard would it be?? I have a tablesaw, router/rtr table, random orbital
sander, jig saw. No planer, jointer, belt sander. I was thinking
about building it with ask or oak, or someother hardwood that we can
stain a chocolate/coca color. The table would be in the simple shaker
style, with a retangular top, straight apron, taperd legs, and two or
three extensions.

Any advice would be AWESOME!