Milled up a large Deodar Cedar in Tunbridge Wells. its really beautiful timber and can be used outdoors or indoors. Traditionally it was used to line boxes, drawers and cupboards because it has a lovely fragrant aroma that lasts a long time compared to other timber fragrances . I cut some wide boards for furniture as well as narrow planks for some fencing.
Pippy Oak Coffee Table
A recent commission I worked on over Christmas was this Pippy/burr Oak coffee table. The spec was for something rustic but also bespoke and sleek. A hard combination sometimes as I often think most 'rustic' furniture can look pretty lazy.
I used some stopped, dovetailed half lap joints to tie the rails together.
For the legs I decided to go with a X shape and used strengthened Lap joints which are incredibly strong but also pretty time consuming to get perfect!
I Have to admit I feel like bowtie/butterfly keys are becoming a bit overused in furniture at the moment. I do appreciate the need to stop cracks from opening up though so put a couple in the top
All assembled and oiled with Osmo Polyx oil
Log to Table
I milled this oak log in Gatwick in the summer on a beautiful sunny day. It was absolutely riddled with nails, screws and fencing so the bottom metre had to be cut off completely and the rest carefully examined before each cut. Despite the large amount of blue staining I was lucky enough not to hit anything at all.
I cut two slabs for the top of the table then some 5x5 and 4x4 for the frame underneath.
On this table it was decided that I could spend an extra day on the table and plane and size all the timber. This really makes a big difference to the finish of the table and allows the grain to show through. As it dries out and ages the grey of the oak will be enlightened with the silvery medullary rays and will look really smart.
The frames I build for these tables are all made with pegged mortise and tenons. The pegs are made out of seasoned oak so when the rest of the table dries out the joints only get tighter
As I had planed the timber I also added more finishing touches such as chamfered edges.
I built the two ends in the work shop and then completed the rest of it on site. This included cleaning up and hand planing the top smooth.
The finished product. One very heavy table!
Deodar Cedar
Deodar Cedar is becoming one of my favourite timbers to mill! It is one of the best smelling timbers around and it doesn't seem to fade even after it is seasoned.
This tree had previously had some very harsh pruning on it and was a bit of an eyesore. The client decided to have it taken down but wanted to make use of the nice straight stem. After cutting the top slice it was decided that it was far to good to use for structural material. Instead, it was decided to mill it up with the intention of turning it into a large dining table or two!
Stacked up and ready for seasoning...
Oak milling in Bromley
Making use of a victim of the recent storm Katie. This oak was milled into a 3 inch thick boards and also 1.5 inch boards. After the top slab was cut I sawed one of the sides off to removed a large flair in the log. The log itself was on a pretty steep hill (pictures don't do it justice..), it was interesting to see how adaptable the Alaskan set up is for logs that are in difficult spots.
I recently invested in a larger saw and Alaskan sawmill frame which means I have the option to cut boards up to 1.5 meters wide!
Outdoor Oak Dining table
First off, the oak was milled into 3 inch thick boards and 3 meters long then some of the planks were then converted into 5x3 rails. It was a really awesome piece of oak with nice streaks of dark brown, pink and blue from a piece of metal inside the tree which I somehow managed the miss with the saw!
When it came to building the table I used a combination of bridle joints, lap joints and stainless steel bolts to hold it together. This combination makes for a very solid table - Which it needed to be as the two planks that formed the table top took 4 people to lift!
It was a great project to build and I'm pretty sure it will outlive me...
