On 14 Jan 2004 07:48:01 -0800, (Shawn) wrote:

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?

Depends on what you spend on the timber, and how much tooling you have
to buy.

I could build one for that price, I could even sell you one for that
price, but I'm not sure about outfitting a workshop from scratch and
building one. It all depends on how you choose to make it (tables have
a huge range of potential complexity) and that timber budget.

Tables are hard. They're big, they're obvious, they highlight errors
and they eat up top-grade timber. Before doing a dining table, I
strongly suggest making yourself a small table from the same timber,
roughly the same joinery, and the same finish.

Learn how to make a table top, and that includes learning how to deal
with timber movement.

The table would be in the simple shaker
style, with a retangular top, straight apron, taperd legs, and two or
three extensions.

Look at a lot of styles before you jump. You're going to be living
with this for a long time. _Why_ do you like a Shaker table you've
seen ? What is the feature that attracts you ? Are there also other
styles that treat it the same way ?

Personally I'm not a big fan of large Shaker tables. I don't like the
way they did legs. Functional and plenty of legroom, but I don;t liek
the look of the central columns. Sounds like you're going for "leg at
each corner" anyway ? Another leg design to look at for a big table
would be a Barnsley hay-rake (English, 1920s)
http://www.artsandcraftsmuseum.org.u...ment/tech1.asp

Any advice would be AWESOME!

Buy Tage Frid's two books (three volumes) on cabinetmaking.

The first one is a well-known guide to the techniques of furniture
making.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1561580686/codesmiths-20

The second is less often recommended, because it's nothing like as
useful. Two chapters that are worth having though are the workbench
design, and (especially in your case) the best explanation I've seen
of the many and varied ways to make expanding tabletops.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/091880440X/codesmiths-20

--
Do whales have krillfiles ?