A new table and a new hobby!

Sometime ago I convinced Elma Lynne to discard an old table we had in our apartment bedroom.  I did that by promising to make her a new one out of local black walnut.  I had cut down a couple of trees which I took and got milled  into lumber.  After it had dried for the requisite time I was out of excuses so I went to work on the table in January of 2018.

I cut several boards to about 48 inches in length, planed them to the desired thickness and glued them together then trimmed them to have a table top of about 39 inches square.  I had a log about 8 inches in diameter that I wanted to use for a pedestal, but I needed a fairly large lathe to mill it to size.  So I want to Harbor Freight and bought a lathe!

After a little practice I went to work on the log and turned a pretty nice pedestal, then made a base for it using some three inch thick walnut.  After a lot of sanding I put a urethane coat on it and finally presented it for Mother's Day.  It now holds a place of honor in the apartment bedroom, but I think it needs a couple of chairs.  Maybe that will be my next project, or at least a future project.

Black Walnut Table - pedestal view

Black Walnut Table - top view 

Oh, turning wood on a lathe has become my new hobby.  The reason the table took so long is that I had so much fun turning the pedestal that I started turning other stuff.  I made lamps, vases, goblets and bowls.  I watched You Tube a lot and got some neat ideas and had fun trying them out.  My main focus has become making bowls.  My next blog will be about my new hobby, turning bowls.