Sometimes the most difficult part of a project has nothing to do with what happens on the shop floor where we do our builds. Landing on a design that fulfills all the needs of a client’s home requires careful attention to the space and a thorough understanding of how they use it. Whether our clients have very particular aesthetics or prefer to allow decisions like materials and finishes to occur as a consequence of other factors, the functional design of a piece is the essential core of everything we make.
Boston is a town of narrow streets and narrow buildings, so we often create tables that need to be able to accommodate a full supper setting as well as regular traffic past at least one side, as we did here. We love these circular tables that expand into a shape we refer to as a “racetrack”. This table has a 48” diameter at its standard size, and the single center extension allows it to grow to 64” long.
We don’t often do tables with as dramatic a two-tone finish as we did on this one, but the material and situation of this table made it possible. We built both the table top and base from freshly-milled white oak lumber, which granted us wide latitude to play with tints and finishes.
Oak has been one of the most popular woodworking materials for ages, and with good reason. It’s strong, durable, stable, and, as this project shows, it takes finishes and colorations exceptionally well. It is perhaps interesting to note that despite the deep, consistent colors that you see in this piece, we applied no stain to it whatsoever.
Instead, we used our preferred oil finish, Rubio Monocoat, and another Rubio product, their PreColor Easy, to achieve the results here. Rubio is a two-component oil finish that originated in the world of flooring, so it’s tremendously tough and durable, but it also applies extremely evenly. Rubio offers 55 different colors, which interact with different species in different ways; white oak offers perhaps the most reliable results of any wood type.
Check out some more of our round and oval tables here, and when you’re ready to start a conversation that will lead to the perfect piece of furniture for the specific demands of your home and your life then fill in the “Contact” form below, email info@cannonhillwood.com, or call 857-567-2089.