Tom
Jon,
Writing with a quick note of gratitude (‘tis the season, right?). Earlier this year, I found your YouTube video building a trestle dining table – I proceeded to buy your plans, print them, and them let them collect dust on my desk for a month or so.
A short story:
I’m 39 years old, and for most of my adult life, I’ve had an interest in wanting to explore woodworking, but I never had the time (or space or tools or know-how). I’ve got 3 young kids, I run a small business, and resources are tight (notably, TIME!). Nonetheless, the desire to tinker with woodworking as a hobby had always been there. Four years ago, I bought some raw white oak from a local mill… mostly for garden boxes (which are still going strong) but also with a dream to, one day, build something. “I don’t know,” I said to myself, “Maybe a dining room table!” I had never built anything with wood, with the exception of a compost bin and some of the aforementioned garden boxes. A dining table seemed like a bit of a leap to get started.
Fast forward to this Fall. My wife and I hosted our family for Thanksgiving and we didn’t have a table for everyone to sit at. Nothing helps get things moving quite like a deadline, eh? I got the white oak out of the barn which, thanks to four years of procrastinating, er, I mean, drying, was ready to go. I had accumulated some tools in recent years but had never really learned to use them – a benchtop planer, for example. I made a small workbench but that was it. I bought a fisher-price jointer and it was still in the box. I went to Rockler for the first time and left my paycheck behind but was the new owner of my first hand plane, a bench vice, fancy sandpaper, and more. I was ready (or so I thought). I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
I’m happy to report that not only did I finish the table, but it turned out great! It took me about 85 hours, all in, mostly because each step of the way I was learning to do something for the first time. I had never cut a mortise or a tenon (I had to google which part was which). I had never made a lap joint. I had never cut a crosscut on my table saw, so I made my first (then second, then third) table saw jig(s). I had never sanded something for proper finishing (let alone sanded something for 6+ hours). I had never done a panel glue up (let alone a 9-foot long one with pipe clamps I had to buy). I had never chamfered an edge (but boy is that an enjoyable process…those little curls!). Many thanks to your plans and your video though, I had the confidence to do all of those things and more. I changed your design a bit because I needed a longer table, I don’t have a router so I couldn’t do the curve on the trestle (but was happy with some angling I did on the ends), and I changed up the feet a bit to make it a little easier on myself. Pictures attached.
I finished the table 5 days before Thanksgiving – JUST enough time for the Rubio Monocoat to set and cure in time for the feast. My family helped me bring it up into the dining room so we all had somewhere to eat. It was magical.
I made a TON of mistakes, I learned a lot, and I confirmed my hunch: I now know that I do, in fact, love woodworking. I’m pretty far from being able to quit my day job, but I wanted to thank you for what you do.
Last but not least, a disclaimer I might add to your future patrons and aspiring table-builders: DON’T do what I did… as you know, there are only 6 pieces of hardware in this table. 6 lag bolts. I went ahead and saved a whopping 28 cents by getting the cheap lag bolts. Despite the pre-drilled holes, when I went to put them in (which is step 98 out of 100 in this build), I snapped not one, not two, but THREE of the six lag bolts. Damn near brought me to tears. I managed to waste a few hours, two trips to Home Depot, and several drill bits, but I remedied the situation and extracted the dead half of the lags and replaced with new (28 cents more expensive) hardware. “…so, folks, don’t do like Tom did and get the cheap lags. Save yourself the headache, and get good hardware.”
Thanks again for turning me on to the craft, Jon. I look forward to finding my way to another one of your plans soon enough. Perhaps in time for the next holiday deadline.
Best Wishes to you and yours,
-Tom
