Category Archives: Tables

Western Dining Table

Posted by Prairie Bench in Country Collection, Custom Sizes, Tables and tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

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This is a western style dining table made from reclaimed untreated spruce planks and finished in our Country rustic and polyurethane for easy care. We used a water-based stain on this piece to ensure food safe use. The poly top coat dries to a durable finish.

The table is 4.5′ x 5′ with four 6″ thick corner posts. The table is 28 7/8″ tall, allowing for a floor protector which makes the table exactly 29″.

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The table surface planks are offset slightly to give a real rustic feel and touch. We also used a hand planer to add texture before sanding smooth. The post and beam design allows the table to be taken apart and moved. Also, the posts are inset to allow lots of leg room and easy access. The table surface is two pieces which buckle together in the middle and lock down at the edges. When installed onsite, there are four bolts which hold the beams to the posts. It’s big and heavy and will easily host eight people sitting comfortably around.

#11-6-14-BL designed in spruce and finished in Prairie Bench Country Rustic and polyurethane. 54″x60″x 29″ tall. This custom table is on its way to a new home  and we wish the owners lots of happy feasting.

Click the pictures to enlarge.

Hemlock Bistro Bar

Posted by Prairie Bench in Bars and Counters, Country Collection, Tables and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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A traditional 36″ counter bar (background right) is dwarfed by the massive Hemlock slab.

It’s big.

The piece:
Local Hemlock slab 3″ thick 60″x 20″ live edge
Local rough cut Fir timbers 4″ thick hand chiseled
Hazelnut dowels on frame
Hemlock dowels to moor slab
42″ tall
Rubber skid pads
Finished in polyurethane for easy polishing and durability

The hemlock slab was our work bench until we flipped it over and saw it had nice grain. So we polished it up with a hand planer and some high grit sand paper,  and the result was stunning.

 

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This piece is a fine example of West Coast Hemlock, and very strong. It is a soft wood, an evergreen, so the surface may get nicked and bumped—but that’s part of its story. We even left some of the original mill saw marks, and there is a compression mark from early in the tree’s history. It’s a wain cut so the slab does have a slight twist, compensated by the custom frame. Belly up to the bar, we estimate the load bearing for this unit to be about eight tons, however we only recommend the table for lattes and a few brews.

 

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One side has a nice arc that invites patrons to sit around the server and bartender side has a convenient knot hole for tips. Each post of the fir frame is hand chiseled and joins in a locking pattern on three sides, then pinned with sturdy hazelnut hardwood dowels. Sanded smooth, the blunt dowels and over cut edges give the piece a sturdy wild west look and in the category Country Collection.

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For matching chairs, we’ll shop for some nice iron ones to complement the piece.

Size: 42″ tall x 60″ long x 20″ wide
Finished in polyurethane
#270-BL-02-14

 

 

prairie bench hemlock bistro build

Frame of the Hemlock Bistro Bar being built on the new work bench, a huge cedar slab. Looking forward making something with that monolith.

Cedar Scrying Bowl Trial

Posted by Prairie Bench in Prairie Bench Life, Storybook Collection, Tables, Working With Wood and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

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As it is Friday the thirteenth, we agreed tonight would be a wonderful time to test out our cedar scrying bowl and see if we could catch a glimpse of the future.

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Click here to see how we put it together.

There was a half moon tonight and we got some reflection photos with the bowl filled with water. That wee white light is the moon through our dusty shop camera. And yes you could see stars in the scrying bowl. Also, an interesting phenomenon happens: Once you catch a star’s reflection in the bowl, slowly move away and the image appears to magnify.  As our distance from the bowl increased, the reflection grew visibly larger.  The basin depth is quite shallow, yet it held almost a liter of water before trickling over the edge. With the surface so polished, the water held together like mercury. Candle light illuminated the meniscus (the surface edge where water meets solid) with a striking red tone.

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Did we see the future? If so, the future looked a lot like the now. It was a very interesting trial of an ancient wooden invention. Nostradamus should have published a manual. Now we need to find a home for the scrying bowl, or somewhere to be enjoyed. Maybe in a forest glade?

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A solitary moon’s reflection in the scrying bowl

Happy Friday the thirteenth!

Cedar Coffee Table

Posted by Prairie Bench in Tables, Woodland Collection and tagged with , , , , ,

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A client asked for a cedar coffee table. They brought us a large cedar plank, approximately 7 feet long, two feet wide x 4 inches thick, that was still quite wet. We decided to make it right away and the slab can dry on their patio. There was a nice knot on the cut side of the slab, so this became the center point for the design. We chopped the ends at ten degrees on the big miter saw using special rollers to handle the weight. Then we re-cut the ends of the slab from the opposite direction at twenty degrees. These two angles, one half of the other, make the design symmetrical and balanced. Because of the weight of the legs, four inch aggressive screws were used with glue to lock the wood together from below. We didn’t want dowels interrupting the beautiful grain on this specimen. Cedar has long strands and will crack and split with time and that’s part of the look. Because the wood is still carrying a lot of water,  we only applied finish to the top and ends of the wood. The underside and inside legs can stay open for evaporation.  A table this size will drink up lots of finish over the years.

Size: 51″ long x 22″wide x 20″ tall. Slab is 4″ thick. Image: the table was just glued together and is sitting on blocks. Wood Source: hawleyscape.com

Glass and Spruce Sand Table

Posted by Prairie Bench in Bistro Sets, Chairs, Sand Gardens, Tables and tagged with , , , , , , ,

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This project all started with a large sheet of beveled glass we found at a garage sale. The vision was a glass topped bistro table that would become a fun entertainment area on a patio or in a lounge.

Four randomly sized moon footstools complete the arrangement.

The table is approximately 32″ x 32″ and just over coffee table height, about 25″ tall. The frame and wood slats are all reclaimed spruce and stained in our Storybook dark walnut. The main box contains an interior shelf and a trap door. The glass top and frame are hinged to lift up and expose the display inside.

Sand, collectibles, flower arrangements, dishes, or memorabilia display beneath the glass surface. The framed glass lifts on a piano hinge to arrange the display. This is a prototype design and we are quite pleased with the result.

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