As for this documentary blog about the makings of the plank trestle table, there have now been almost 1,800 visits.  I think there are 34 posts here and over 120 photographs.  I was worried about the “confessional” tone/attitude as I wrote  it, but the response has been entirely appreciative.  It does feel a bit strange to not know who has made all those visits, but it’s given the table the  audience I think it deserves.  

Thanks everyone, out there ,in the great Unknown.

     This is my 32nd post and it may be the next to last.  The table was delivered to the Creighton Block Gallery on  June 21, 2010, a nice coincidence with the Summer Solstice.  All went well with the help of Steve, “Iron Jack”, DJ, Christy, and Colin (the gallery c0-owner).  Colin had prepared a fine place for it on a Persian rug surrounded by suspended panels displaying paintings.
     I was especially pleased with how easily the table was reassembled and with how well the EZ furniture glides work on the rug.
     I want to get this posted this morning (it’s a busy day ahead), so I’ll keep the writing limited.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are twelve thousand:

It's been a long while since I've seen so much open floor space

The send off crew L to R: Steve, DJ, Christy, Angel, Kristin

Ready for departure, the table top and trestle solidly in place for a 3 block ride

The table arrives, downtown VC in the background, including Fred the fire engine tour guide

The trestle first, Colin helping and Steve supervising

Trestle in place, Jack installing the EZ glides

Table top next, maneuvering it was the most awkward part of the delivery

Setting the top after checking underneath for replacement guide marks

DJ looking for the perfect fit while I listen for it

A moment of chin scratching with Colin

Voila!

After months of work and 32 blog posts, there it is.Ready for artifacts

The table will help exhibit an incredible collection of Native American artifacts.

Plank Trestle Table … Artist’s Statement

     It took about twenty years for this table to come together.  The burled posts and stretcher in the trestle came from the forests near Philipsburg, Montana.  The Douglas fir burl was found fire-killed in 1989 and the Lodgepole burl was found standing near Rumsey, Montana.  The stretcher is is Lodgepole pine tree trunk, and its shape is naturally grown.  The center plank was the first inspiration for the making of a long plank table.  It was milled locally, in nearby Alder, by D.J. Quinn and Paul Degel.
     The removable plank top rests securely by its own weight on the trestle crossbeams.  There are three pieces of channel iron to brace the flatness of the top and allow for expansion and contraction of the planks.  There are three furniture glides under each of the posts, making it easy to slide the table on most surfaces.
     What pleases me most about the table is its “mythical” and “ceremonial” presence.  It is certainly solid and durable, while it also conveys a sense of sculptural balance, simplicity, and openness.  The finest compliment it has received is that it looks like it belongs in the hall of the Mountain King.
      I imagine the table as the centerpiece of a complete dining or conference set, with seating for ten persons–using either ten chairs, or two chairs and four benches, each bench seating two.  I would welcome a commission for this work.
     This statement is intentionally brief.  For a detailed documentation of making the table, including photos, please visit my blog at cjackwallerjr.wordpress.com.

Starting to turn the top over, Steve Hulse in the foreground. Photo by Ronald Driver

     Yesterday we–Kristin, Steve, and I–turned the table top right side up, while my de facto brother-in-law Ronald photographed.  
     I estimate that the top weighs 175 to 200 pounds, so we had carefully discussed the procedure of turning it over, including removing the pads, and, of course, asking the recurring question: “What can go wrong here?”  

What's wrong with this picture?

Kristin was under the table to help guide the channel iron braces onto the wood crossbeams.  She couldn’t figure out why it looked the way it did under there.  Then she realized that the trestle base was still upside down!  More embarrassment to the so-called master!

What the flip? Kristin makes her discovery

     So we had to set the table top aside, turn the trestle upright, and place the top.  This time it fit very snugly and we could laugh about it, using a favorite expression:  ”We can’t think of everything!”

Let's try that again, after turning the trestle upright, OK?

     Of course, turning both the trestle and the table top upright brought surprises.  Stain and varnish drips and runs, scratches, dents and even skid marks from my boots.  
     With the helpful eyes of best friends Christy Jones and D.J. Quinn, I did some light scraping and then scrubbed the entire top with a synthetic pad soaked in mineral spirits.  I added lots of elbow grease and it cleaned up.
     It was a warm afternoon, a perfect time to brush on the first coat of quick drying, clear satin polyurethane.   I was pleased to see how the first coat deepened the natural colors of the planks and revealed the character, grain and tight knots, of the center plank.

First coat of polyurethane, still wet

     I was pleasantly surprised to see the table assembled and down on the floor. The trestle was  up on saw horses for so long, both right side up and upside down, and under bright lights, while the table top was set aside on its edge.  Once again I realized that all of my cosmetic detailing had been such close up work that I had lost sight of the whole table, its overall “presence,” which (modesty aside) is impressive.
     Sometime today I’ll walk down to the Creighton Block Gallery (3 blocks from our home and workshop) and consult about a Monday delivery.  I imagine they’ll be busy with the exhibition that opens on Tuesday.

Engraving set up with flexible shaft attached to bench grinder.

    Following the suggestion of our good friend, Harry Yeomans, that I “authenticate” the table, I engraved my name and “VC, MT  2010″ into the underside of the top. Harry added, God love him, that someday it will be a big deal to own “a Waller.”  
     I picked a spot with the tightest vertical grain and signed first with a pencil.  The grinder doesn’t turn at high enough RPMs for the fastest, cleanest cut.  I’ll likely get a higher quality engraver for the next signature.
     I’ve signed work in the past using a Sharpie permanent marking pen, but a consultation with my family convinced me that this table deserved better than that.
     Then I put on the final coat of polyurethane.  Tomorrow is a day off, so Friday I’ll start on the top side with a first coat of polyurethane, keeping in mind that I’d like to deliver it on Saturday or Sunday ….

The engraved signature and information.

Signature and information under a coat of wet polyurethane

Underside of top done, wet polyurethane, ready to turn over when dry.

     I wanted to use the glides, three to each post to make it easier to move the table because of its weight.  By creating a triangle of bearing points the area of contact between the post base and floor is reduced.  That not only helps with moving the table around; it also stabilizes and levels it.
     Use of the glides will be optional.  They fit snugly into the recessed areas that I routed freehand, without being glued in place.  But there might be, depending on the type of flooring, other ways to pad the underside of the posts.
     I’m inserting photos of this work as I was doing it.  Since then I’ve stained the wood and turned the trestle upright.  The top is not placed, underside up, for autographing.  I decided to use an electric engraver to sign and date the table, a way of signing the work that I haven’t used before.
     An encouraging and fun statistic:  the number of views of this blog is now in excess of 525.  And I’d like to invite all of you to visit www.creightonblockgallery.com …!

 

Layout of EZ furniture glides--trestle upside down

EZ glides on Lodgepole burl post

Trestle turned upright, ready for placement of plank top

Grinding blemishes on the trestle foot

 
      I’m sure that Bob Dylan didn’t have tree art in mind when he wrote these song lyrics in “To Ramona”:  ”You’ve been fooled into thinking/That the finishing end is at hand.”  
     But these words apply, individually and collectively, to my making  of the plank trestle table: “fooled,” “thinking,” ” finishing,” “end”, “hand.”
      With the table, “finishing” and “end” are different matters.  The project will definitely end; it will be difficult for me to consider it finished.  In the past few posts, I’ve admitted, if indirectly, some of my foolish thinking about being close to finished, especially when all the blemishes were betrayed by my hands.
     (I’ve been encouraged to keep including Dylan quotes in these posts.)

Scraping to bare wood

     Working on the trestle, I’ve found and removed more blemishes.  Most of them were caused by the angle grinder and coarse wheel in the first shaping of the post bases.  
Steve happened by yesterday with his digital camera, and asked if he could take photos to use in a cartoon, including captions, that would document the project in a humorous light.  I enjoy his visits to the shop, and that idea appealed to me. 
      I’m including a selection of his photographs here (all of them are by him), first showing the blemishes and then the scraping that removed them, and the staining to match the surrounding wood. Click on a photo to enlarge it (for a better look a the blemishes … and “the finishing end … at hand.”

More scraping, more revealing light

Staining and blending with dark brown

A closest look ...

Done for the day ...

     Today I put on a coat of polyurethane, and will add a second coat tomorrow, after I fine sand the first one.  (Tomorrow, June 10th, is our daughter Ruby’s fifth birthday!)

     I’m arranging a ceremonial delivery to the Creighton Block Gallery around June 15th. The gallery will start a major exhibit of Native American art, beginning June 22nd, and I’m imagining an audience for the table as well.  I’ve asked Kristin, Steve (and his truck, “Iron Jack,” and trailer), D.J. Quinn, and Christy Jones, to make up the delivery team.

Channel iron painted bronze. Replaced with notch and ink mark matched.

     I removed the three channel iron braces. Since they are not exactly the same, I decided to “code” them for replacement.  I used a jig saw to cut “V”s in the iron and used a permanent ink pen for corresponding marks on the table top. (See photo).  While the braces were off I applied a coat of oil to the planks.  I spray painted the braces with Rustoleum, for a textured bronze finish.  I wanted to get the braces back on ASAP to keep the top flat.  The lag screws in the slots were tightened just enough to so that the washers have pressure on the iron but allow for movement.

Asterisk as guide to replace table top

     I marked the top of the Douglas fir post and the underside of the planks with matching asterisks. (See the asterisk in the photo above, near the center of the channel iron.)  This is important as a guide (for me, too) for replacing the table top correctly.  If the top is replaced with the ends reversed, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t fit.

Trestle, Lodgepole post in foreground

I hand sanded, for hours, the entire trestle/undercarriage, to the point that I now have sore elbows and shoulders (which further aggravates the chronic “wear-and-tear” osteoarthritis in them.)  I’ve applied two colors of stain (golden oak and heritage brown) along with the Watco Danish Oil.  I used the stains to blend in areas that had been sanded more deeply and made lighter colored spots.  The Douglas fir post, especially, had lighter colored spots because its fire-killed, reddish-brown color was sanded off. The dark stain blended right in. Then it was time to fill tiny holes and cracks with wood “dough,” a cosmetic process that prepares for the final top coating of polyurethane.  So, once again, “the finishing end is at hand ….” (from Dylan’s lyric to “Ramona”).

Trestle, Douglas fir post in foreground

A final, encouraging note:  the total number of views/visits to this blog is now 425.  I really appreciate that … thank you all.