The dimensions are 50 inches long, 36 inches wide, and 31 inches high, which makes it a great 4-person table. This table is 2 inches taller than standard tables because I hate having to stoop to bring food into my mouth and the higher top works better for me. However, be warned that it makes it easy for people to lean into the table instead of resting their arms on top of it so you should make sure your table is very stable and sturdy.
Because that's what is easily available to me I used Douglas Fir for the logs (they were already seasoned) and Red Willow (Red Osier Dogwood) for the top (gather them green and put them immediately in a 5-gallon bucket with water so they remain flexible). I'm sure any type of wood would work fine for the logs and any type of willow would work for the top.
The four legs are 29 inches long and about 3 inches in diameter.
The two top supports running lengthwise are 50 inches long and about 1.5 inches in diameter.
The three top supports running across are 36 inches long and about 1.5 inches in diameter.
The two crossing braces at the bottom are 53 inches long and about 1.75 inches in diameter.
The willow sticks are 50 inches long and between 1/2 and 3/4 of an inch in diameter. They have to be as straight as possible; be picky as it will make a big difference in how flat your table top will be. I ended up using 46 of them.
The willow sticks for the arched braces under the table are about 3/4 of an inch in diameter and 85 inches or 75 inches long depending on the side they will support. Depending on how thick the sticks are and how steady your table is you may want to use one or two arch(es) per side. I ended up using one thick arch for each length and two thinner arches on each end.
The tools I used are:
Tape measure
Bow saw
Small hand saw
Hammer
One-inch wood chisel
Level
Knife
Hand pruner
Pencil
Two-inch nails that happened to be laying around (make sure they're not too thick so they don't split the willow)
I started by cutting the four legs and five top supports to length.
Taking the support pieces, about 1.25 inches from each end (plus in the middle of each long piece), I cut U-shaped notches so that they would fit together, the three cross pieces laying on top of the two long ones. I customized the width of the notches to the width of the pieces that had to fit together and cut my vertical slits with the hand saw 1/3 of the way through each piece. I removed the cut-out section with the wood chisel. Everything should fit tightly together. Then, make sure to mark each end so you know how to put everything back together in the exact same way after you take it apart; otherwise, you may spend a long time figuring out which pieces go together again.
Then, I cut a U-shaped notch in the center of the very top of each leg, about 1 inch deep, and the width customized to the width of the long top supports (Note: I didn't cut a notch on the underside of the long top supports to fit into the leg notch and that was a mistake as the supports just rolled into the leg notches, making the table very unstable; so make sure to cut those notches, just to the inside of the meeting of the top supports, as shown below). Again, make sure to make a mark so you know which leg fits which way with which top support.
Next came the most difficult part. Somehow I decided that having two diagonal braces was the way to go. It ended up working really well but everything had to be just right and it was a pain. I'll still describe what I did and then I'll explain what I would do differently next time.
At this point your basic table should be assembled and you should make sure that each leg is standing up straight with your level. It's very important to carefully measure the distance between the legs in each diagonal and add 3 inches to it, which will allow for pegs going into the leg. You also should carefully note the angle at which the diagonal braces will fit into each leg and decide how high these braces will be (mine were about 7 inches high from the ground).
At each end of each brace I drew a 1x1 inch square in the center of the stick and I cut down the length of that square about 1.5 inches with the small saw. Then I removed the outside pieces by cutting across each side, leaving me with a peg 1x1x1.5 inch at the end of each brace. Make sure that the sides of the pegs at each end of the brace line up with each other!
Then I took each leg and used the wood chisel to cut out a 1x1 inch square 7 inches from the bottom of the leg and at the exact angle I had noted earlier. I went 1.5 inches deep to accommodate the pegs exactly. I made sure the pegs fit in very tightly into the square hole of each leg. Then I assembled the table back together to see where the braces would meet in the center and I cut out tight notches in each brace, one from the top, and one from the bottom, and halfway through the width of each piece so that everything fit tightly together. If you've been careful with your measurements and cuts your table should be pretty sturdy at this point. If, like me, you made a mistake, had to re-cut a piece and your notches were a little wide, you may have to put in a couple of nails through those notches to stabilize the whole thing. Here is how it looks when it's all done:
Now, this looks pretty good and works but after thinking about it I think there are better ways to do it. If I had to redo it I would put a brace between the legs at each end of the table and, instead of cutting out square pegs, I would cut rectangular ones running vertically through the whole width of the brace. Of course, I would cut corresponding holes in each leg. If the table wasn't stable enough at that point I may also add a brace running the whole length of the table from the center of each end brace. And if that was still not enough I would add diagonal pieces from the ends of that brace fitted to the bottom of the center top support.
Anyway, at this point you should look at your table, double-check that everything fits together just right, that each leg is standing straight up and that the frame of your top is fairly level (make sure you do all your work and checking on a flat level surface or you'll end up with bad surprises!)
Now the only thing left to do is to cut the willow pieces to length, straighten them, and nail them to the three top supports running the width of the table.
To straighten each stick you can bend it very gently (don't break it!) around your knee where there is a curve you want to get rid of. The straighter the pieces are before you nail them to your frame the flatter your table top will be so make sure to take the time to do this right. Start nailing from both sides of the table toward the center so that your table remains nice and square. Choose your pieces carefully so that the table top ends up as flat as possible. It is very important to alternate where you put your nails; if you always put them through the center of the top support then you will split it; so put a nail just to the right of it, then just to the left, then in the middle, etc.
Hopefully at this point your table should be done and stable. If it's not as stable as you'd like and/or if you want to make it a bit fancier, you can add some arches between the legs on each side like I did.
With a flexible measuring tape measure the distance up one leg, across the top corner where you want your arch to go, along the bottom of the top support, across the other corner, and down the other leg. Remember that it's easier to cut a piece that's too long compared to lengthening a piece that's too short.
The process of forming the willow arch is similar to the straightening done previously, except that this time you put in a curve instead of taking it away. Start at one end of the willow and start curving it over your knee a little bit (with thick pieces you may want to hold them between your foot and the ground instead); move about 5 inches up the stick and do that again, and again, and again, the whole length of the stick. It's a lot easier to curve the whole stick a little bit than it is to put a large bend in one place. I really recommend that you curve the stick a whole lot more than you think you should because it will want to go back to its original shape some. I pretty much bent all my arches into a complete loop before I started adding them to the table.
Make sure the arches don't get in the way of sitting at the table. I put a nail at the very bottom of one leg, and another one just before the arch started to move away from it. Then I put a nail into the top support where the arch just met it, and another one where it just left it. Then same thing down the other leg. Make sure you pull the stick toward the ground as much as possible so that the table top is not lifted off its notches. If that happens a little bit anyway put some heavy weights at each corner of the table until the arch dries completely. These arches will add a tremendous amount of stability to the table.
That's it folks. Sorry for the long post. I hope the explanations are not too confusing; I wish I had taken step by step pictures of the process but I didn't really know what I was doing when I started so I wanted to see the whole thing completed before I posted about it. I hope that inspired some of you to make your own furniture!
Great stuff!
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