How to Build a White Oak Trestle Table / Dining Table / Woodworking

foreign and welcome back to the shop in this video I'm going to build a white oak trestle table the table is made with a combination of mortarsome Tenon joinery and lap joints and I've designed this video to really help guide me through the project and cover all the steps if you want to build this table check out the plans right here or down in the description below the plans along with my detailed videos can really help you build a professional woodworking project that I know you'll be proud of so I hope that you'll click on the link and check it out now let's go ahead and get to work I like to break a project down into its individual parts and with this project I'll get started with what I'm calling the feet I'm using cortisone White Oak for this part of the project and I'll start by ripping the boards to width next I'll use the thickness planer to clean the boards down to an inch and 5 8. after squaring up one side of each board I'll set up a stop block and cut the parts to length thank you I'll create the mortise in the feet by cutting a lap joint in each board eventually these boards will be joined together to create the mortise [Music] the next step is to cut the curve in the bottom of the foot I use a pattern and trace a line on each board and make the cut a little heavy using the bandsaw once I've rough cut all the boards using the bandsaw I'll use the same pattern and a flush cut bit in the router to clean up the cut and make all the boards exactly the same I'll use a few dabs of hot glue to secure the board to the pattern the glue can easily be removed with the Chisel after the curve is cut foreign when I glue the two halves together I'll use biscuits to keep them aligned during the glue up after cutting the biscuit slots I'll go back to the table saw and use a tapering jig to cut a slight taper at the top of the leg on both sides of the mortise next I'll glue the two halves together making sure that I'm flush at each end and you can see how that creates the mortise it's always a good idea to remove any of the glue squeeze out before it has a chance to set up I've allowed the glue to set up now I can unclamp the feet and get to work on the legs there will be a little more shaping to the feet but that comes later on in the project after cross cutting the legs to a rough length I'll use the table saw to rip them to width with a 10 inch blade back in the Powermatic Table Saw I'll use a cross cut sled to square up the side of the board that will become the Tenon after replacing the 10 inch blade with the dado blade I'll cut the 10 in at the end of each leg when I'm cutting the tenons I like to use a test piece that's the same thickness as the work piece I'll sneak up on the cut and once I have a good fit with the test piece I'll make that cut on the work piece with the shoulders of the tenons cut I'll raise the blade to cut the cheeks again I'm going to sneak up on this cut to make sure I get a snug fit foreign I cut the tenons to be slightly proud of the mortise at the bottom of the foot and even though nobody's ever going to see this I thought adding a slight chamfer to the Tenon would be a nice touch okay now I've got the legs fit into the feet of the table I still need to cut the legs to length and do some shaping on both the legs and the feet but before that I want to work on the cross brace that will connect the two parts together when I say the cross brace I'm actually referring to The Trestle I'll get started by cutting the board to a rough length and that'll make the board a little bit lighter and easier to handle you really need to take your time when making a cross cut on a big board like this or the saw is likely to bind or jump and that can be a little dangerous next I'll run the board over the jointer to put a straight edge on one side and then I'll use the table saw to rip the board to width this board's a little bit heavier than an inch and three quarters so I'll use the thickness planer to bring it down to size and that did a pretty good job of cleaning up the surface I still have the low area around the knot but I can live with that and I'll deal with that later with some sawdust and epoxy now that I have the center brace or The Trestle planed down I'm starting to think about how far apart I want the legs to be but before I go any further with that I need to cut the legs to length and since I want the table height to be 30 inches and the table thickness is one inch I'm going to measure from the ground and make a mark at 29 inches then I'll set up a stop block and cut both legs to that measurement with the legs cut to length the next step is to cut the lap joint at the top of the legs for this cut I'm using a 10 inch blade in the saw with a flat ground tooth the flat ground tooth will create a smooth surface in the joint in case you're wondering why I'm not using the dado blade to make the joint it's because the dado blade is an eight inch blade and I wouldn't be able to raise the blade high enough to cut a two and a half inch deep joint with the legs cut to length and the lap joint cut I'll turn my attention back to The Trestle and use the miter saw to cut The Trestle to its final length of 81 inches now that I have the lap joints cut in the legs I'll need to cut the lap joints in the brace and since this joint is too large to cut on the table saw another way to make the joint is to First make the rip at two and a half inches which is the depth of the lap joints in the legs and then I'll cut away the waist and then join the boards back together and that will create the joint I've labeled the parts one two and three so the grain will match when I join the boards back together when I cut away the waist that will create the lap joint notice that I'm making the cut on the inside of the line foreign with the center of the Trestle clamped in position I'll use a piece of scrap wood that's the same thickness as the leg to help position the pieces at the ends foreign I'm using biscuits to join the parts of the Trestle back together because the biscuits do a great job of keeping the boards aligned during the glue up I'll join the parts that will create the center of the Trestle first and allow the glue to set up foreign now I can join the boards at the ends and you can see how that creates the lap joint foreign I hammered this piece in just a little bit so now this is too tight to fit unless I force it and the reason for that is I am going to sand this piece and when I do then it'll be a perfect fit okay and that's it for the chestle for a little while I'll put it to the side and let the glue set up and get to work on the cross braces that will support the table top I'll start by ripping the braces to width on the table saw and then square up one side of each brace set up a stop block and cut all four braces to length the braces will be attached to The Trestle with a lag reinforced lap joint I'll cut the lap joint on a test piece first to make sure it's a good fit now that I have a good fit I'll raise the blade to an inch and a half and make the first two cuts in the joint with the work piece up tight against the stop block after the first two cuts are made I'll plow out the rest of the material in the center [Music] after cutting the lap joints in all four cross braces I'll keep the blade at the same height and get set up to cut the lab joints in The Trestle I've marked lines where those joints need to be cut and I'll sneak up on those lines periodically testing the cut with a piece of scrap wood that is the same thickness as the cross braces now I have the tabletop supports fit into the Trestle with a nice tight lap joint and I'm starting to think about shaping these supports but before I do that I'm going to drill a hole in the center of each one so when I assemble the table I can attach the supports to The Trestle with a large lag bolt foreign I'll countersink the hole with a 7 8 of an inch Fastener bit and then use a 3 16 inch bit to drill the pilot hole now that I have the holes drilled I'm going to cut a taper on each brace measuring down from the top outside edge one inch and over from the lap joint an inch and a quarter the leg will also be attached to The Trestle with a lag bolt to make sure the lag is driven straight and centered I made this jig to drill a 3 16 of an inch pilot hole after drilling the pilot hole I'll remove the jig and countersink the hole with a 7 8 of an inch Foster bit now that I have the holes drilled in The Trestle I've cut the taper on the supports for the top I'm going to shape them a little bit more but I still want to think about what I'll be doing there so I've moved on to the feet as you can see I've shaped this one a little bit not a lot but I think just enough to make a difference and we'll go ahead and shape the next one and I'll go through all the steps I'll start at the miter saw and with the bottom of the foot against the fence I'll cut a five degree angle at each end so I have a flat surface to reference off of the table saw I'll hot glue this piece of half inch MDF to the bottom of the feet I've set the angle of the blade at seven degrees and the fence at three and an eighth now I can rip a slight taper on both sides of the foot foreign to create a stronger connection between The Trestle and the leg I'll add an inch and a quarter dowel just under the lap joint when The Trestle is attached to the leg the lag will thread into the long grain of the dowel rather than just the end grain of the leg this combined with wood glue will create a very strong connection I'm going to add a slight taper to the bottom of the leg and to do that I'll make a jig I've measured in from the outside of the leg and made a mark at three quarters of an inch and I'll hang the bottom of the leg Over The Jig at that Mark and up at the top of the leg I'll make sure that I'm flush with the edge of the plywood with the leg in position on the jig I'll add a cleat to the side and at the top after cutting the taper on one side of each leg I'll remove the cleats to readjust them and cut the taper on the other side of the legs the next step is to cut the inch and a quarter dowels that will fit into the holes just under the lap joint after tapping the dowels into place I'll let the glue set up and then trim them flush with a straight bit in the router with most of the work done to the legs of the table I'll turn my attention back to the feet and the shaping of the parts now that I have a five degree angle on the front and the seven degree angle on the sides of the feet I'm going to add a slight round over like the one I have over here and the way I'm going to do that is I'll measure over three quarters of an inch from The Edge and then from the top I'll do that on both sides and then measure out eight inches then use the hand plane to go from zero to this round over these two lines here are my reference points I finished shaping the feet and I'm going to add a similar detail to the supports for the table top in this case I'm measuring over a half of an inch from the side we'll do that on both sides and then I'll measure down from I guess this would be the bottom of the support and again that's a half of an inch and then I'm going to measure from the front out nine inches and again I'm just going to use the hand plane and go from zero to those reference lines now I'm ready to shape the leg and I want to add a slight round over to the bottom of the leg and to do that I'm going to measure in three quarters of an inch on both sides and then down a quarter of an inch on both sides and I'm just going to slightly round that over starting from the top of the leg down to the bottom so it'll be a right angle at the top and then slightly round it over at the bottom with most of the parts now shaped I'll turn my attention back to The Trestle and start by filling the knots with a mixture of sawdust and epoxy I'm adding a slight detail at each end of The Trestle simply measuring over at the bottom two inches making a mark and then using a straight edge and from that two inch mark I'll put the other end of The Straight Edge at zero trace a line and make this cut with the miter saw [Music] I've allowed the sawdust an epoxy mixture to set up and now I'm using the tabletop supports as a guide to drill pallet holes in The Trestle with the 3 16 of an inch pilot holes drilled I'll use the lag to tap threads in the hole the hole in the cross braces needs to be drilled wider at a quarter of an inch foreign next I'll use a pattern to cut a curve at the bottom of the trestle I've got the pattern clamped in position I'll trace it and then make this cut heavy using the bandsaw I have a full video on how to make this pattern and there's a link to that video down in the description below after making the cut a little heavy with the bandsaw I'll clamp the work piece to the pattern and clean up the cut with a flush cut bit in the router now I can fit The Trestle onto the leg assembly and drill a 3 16 of an inch pilot hole into the legs just like the table support cross braces I'll need to widen the hole in the Trestle to a quarter of an inch I'll be using a five inch lag bolt to reinforce the lap joint and just like before I'll use the lag bolt to tap the threads in the leg I'm going to shape the bottom of the Trestle just a little bit I'll measure over from each side half of an inch and make a reference line and then I'll measure down let's say 3 8 of an inch and again a reference line and I'll use the hand plane to go from zero to make this round over or this shape the table top will be attached to the base with wooden buttons that will fit into slots made with the biscuit jointer this connection will allow for expansion and contraction of the table top after cutting the biscuit slots I'll get to work on making the wooden buttons that will fit into the slots and secure the top [Music] after rounding over the back and front with the bandsaw I'll use my belt sander clamped upside down to the work table to sand them smooth now I'm ready to get started on the table top when I picked up the material from the lumber yard I had them bring the boards down to one inch thick and put a straight line rip on one side of each board this cost a few extra bucks but it was worth the time saved in the shop with the straight line rip against the fence I'll rip the boards down to size I'll join the boards together using the Domino and because this top is going to be very heavy for me to Handle by myself I'll build the top in two halves and once the glue is dried I'll join the two halves together to make the top okay nice now I'm ready to attach the braces to The Trestle and I've placed The Trestle on two pieces of mahogany just to keep the Trestle from rocking around because of the bow underneath it and I'm going to use a little type on three wood glue and the four inch lag bolts foreign [Applause] I'll use a wet rag to remove the glue squeeze out before it sets up the next step is to attach the leg to the foot I'll apply glue to the Tenon and the mortise and clamp the parts together foreign foreign I've allowed the glue to set up and I've decided to Peg the tenons with two half inch oak dowels to add a little more strength this simple jig clamped in position will help guide the drill bit the tape on the drill bit will remind me to not drill too deep I only want to drill through one side of the foot through the Tenon and 3 8 of an inch into the other side up now I can finally attach The Trestle assembly to the legs and this is my middle son Walter giving me a hand and we'll walk right over to the legs you doing okay watch your hand I'm just going to kick it out a little bit there you go you're in two good let me drive those yeah that's good not some flush let's clean up the glue I think it's gonna be solid I'll use the circular saw to cut the table top to its final length and then bring it outside to shape the bottom I've got the table top upside down and I'm going to add a gradual slope to the bottom of the top to make it look a little bit lighter so I've measured out three inches and from the top down I've measured out set 5 8. and these are reference lines that I'll plane to or shape to on the sides of the table top I've measured in an inch and a quarter and again I'll make a reference line at 5 8 of an inch and again shape to those lines [Music] after sanding the table top and all the parts down to 220 The Next Step was the Finish before I finish furniture grade wood like this quarter storm White Oak I like to seal it first with dewaxed shellac the shellac will bring out the beauty of the wood grain and the water-based Halcyon varnish from Total boat will give this project the protection that it will need all right after letting the Finish cure for a few days I attached the table top with the wooden buttons The Next Step was to pack it up put it in my truck and bring it down to my brother Will's house and here it is in his driveway and here it is again in his dining room and one more time with my nephew William sitting on the table giving it a stress test okay well I'm really happy with how the table turned out this is a project that I've been thinking about for a long time so it's nice to see it come together and I think it's going to be nice for my brother and his family to use a solid table I can imagine the kids doing their homework on there family meetings our holidays things like that it's nice to have a solid table and if you think about it a lot happens in life around a table so it's nice to have something that's really solid I do anticipate that table to take quite a beating I mean that's just what happens that's why I used the Halcyon finish and I was talking to my brother yesterday I said you know just live with the table after a couple of years we can give the table top a light sanding we'll apply another coat again with the roller and the foam brush and it'll look as good as new with maybe a little character from some of those deeper scratches that's just going to happen so anyway I hope you enjoyed this project if you build this table or any of my furniture projects I hope that you'll share them on Instagram or Facebook I'd love to see what you made and I'd like to be able to share your projects on my feed as always thanks for tuning in and I'll see you next time if you like this project you might like this project too or maybe one from the playlist under it and if you build one of my designs I hope that you'll share it on Instagram and tag me I'd love to see what you made

Channel: Jon Peters - Longview Woodworking

Views: 47,716

Keywords: DIY, Jon Peters, how to, woodworking, tools, power tools, furniture making, home and garden, woodworker, furniture maker, maker, creator, influencer, jon peters art, artist, furniture, do it yourself, DIY project, garden, power tool, dewalt, milwaukee, lumber

Id: IIvc7UOw7CA

Length: 35min 16sec (2116 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 14 2023