A commission for a low table in American black walnut, 1200 by 600, with a shelf below and tapered legs. Eleven days on and off, most of them waiting for glue or finish. Here is how it went together.
The timber
Three boards from the same tree, cut sequentially and kept together in the rack since 2023. Matching at the joint line matters more than any other decision on a piece like this, and it can only be done with boards that grew next to each other.
Moisture came in at 9%, which is right for a heated room here. Anything over 12% and the top would cup within a season no matter how it was built.
The top
- Jointed by hand, checked against a straightedge and against each other.
- Glued in one go with six clamps, alternating over and under to keep it flat.
- Left overnight, then flattened with a jack and a smoother.
- Edges eased with a block plane rather than a router — a slightly uneven arris looks handmade, a perfect radius looks bought.
Legs and aprons
Haunched mortise and tenons throughout, cut by hand. The taper starts 150mm down from the top on the two inside faces only, which keeps the leg looking upright from the front and light from the side.
The shelf sits in stopped housings in the lower rails. It is not glued at the ends — it needs to move, and a shelf trapped across its width will split the rails within two winters.
Attaching the top
Buttons in grooves, not screws through the apron. A 600mm walnut top will move about 4mm across the grain between a damp August and a heated January. Something has to give, and it should be a button sliding in a groove rather than the top splitting.
Every piece of solid wood furniture that has survived a century was built by someone who assumed the wood would move.
Finish
Two coats of hard wax oil, the second cut back with a grey pad and buffed. Walnut darkens under oil and then lightens again over the following year as the surface settles, so the piece that leaves the workshop is not quite the piece the customer has in twelve months. We say so at the point of order.