The boss has been after me for a while to make some dining room benches to comfortably seat our growing herd of children (5). I've finally got enough decent tools (most notably a good Delta tablesaw) to do "woordworking" rather than just carpentry. This is black oak sawn on a LT40, harvested from my dad's land, and dried in his solar kiln. I've got the seats assembled except for flush cutting the dowel plugs. When I took the picture I was making sure the legs fit between the claw feet on our dining room table, that's why it is clamped. I still need to notch the legs so they make 4 smaller points of contact with the floor rather than 2 large to make their tendancy to rock less. There's a certain amount of satisfaction that you get from taking a standing tree to something your whole family will use every day for years to come.
It looks real good. I will admit that I have not see black oak around here that I am aware of. The grain is most excellent.
In the field Black & Northern Red are fairly easy to tell apart.They sometimes hybridize though.But unless I cut the trees myself & keep the wood separate after milling,its pretty much impossible.
Not quite as refined, but you can still sit on it. Black Locust bench for many years of campfire watching.
Got the pair of them assembled tonight. Just need to round over the edges, sand, and finish coat them.
Yep, she likes them. Her parents had a set just like them ( I actually made an exact copy of them) that she grew up with. There's some sentimental value there for her.
