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!

"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!

This was similar to the decision my wife and I faced recently.
We moved into our brandnew home and kicked all our old furniture to the
curb.
We wanted a new *white* dining room set and had been searching in vain for
one, seems white furniture is not very stylish right now, go figure.
Leafing through one of them ladies magazines my wife found a picture of her
dream dining room table.
I am in the process of building it right now.
Am using some store bought parts and some stuff I will do myself.
It is a 8' french door with an apron and cottage style legs.
The windows in the door have some ferns etched into the surface and a large
piece of beveled glass will go over top of the whole thing.
I bought the door, bought the legs (I don't have a lathe, yet) and bought
some 1x6 red oak for the apron. The whole thing is assembled, (very solid
too) now I'm shopping for a sprayer.
So, in conclusion I would say to build it, you will learn some stuff along
the way and you'll get the table you really wanted.

How do you spell "tool buying opportunity"?

Yeah baby! here is how I would spend that $1200

Planer: $300
Jointer $400
Router bits $75 (perhaps a nice big bit for the edge profile )
Fuzzy board math:
10'x40" top = 33sf x 1.25 (5/4 stock)= 42bf + Apron and legs(35bf) = 75 +
waste =100bf x$3/bf
$300 rough-cut oak (really rough estimate)
$50 finishing supplies
$50 Bouquet for table
$25 Case of decent beer

Knowing you did it yourself: Priceless

BTW, not having a belt sander is probably a good thing. You will eventually
get one, and the first time that you use it, you will know why.



"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!

Hey Shawn!

I say build it. If you screw it up; call it practice and you get a styling
assembly table for your shop and try again. I am in the process of trying to
convince SWMBO that I need two need D-Handle routers to dedicate to the
Leigh Dovetail Jig that I got off ebay. I will let everyone know how it
goes. Lately her complains haven't been about me getting tools it has been
that there hasn't been enough sawdust made.


Good Luck and build it.

Chef

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!

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

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!


You mention cost. If you are going to build a table, do it because you
want to, not because of cost. Let the table be an artistic expression of
your creativity.

You will be pleased at every meal.

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 ?

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

Any advice would be AWESOME!

You're asking us? G

BUILD! Even if it costs double, it'll be _yours_. G

Barry

You will be pleased at every meal.


That really depends on your wife's cooking!!



"C" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 07:48:01 -0800, Shawn wrote:

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!


You mention cost. If you are going to build a table, do it because you
want to, not because of cost. Let the table be an artistic expression of
your creativity.

You will be pleased at every meal.