Bespoke Dining Table - I - Timber Selection

This is a short series following the creation of a bespoke dining table all the way through the making process, from selecting the timber to delivery to the client.

For many craftspeople, a new project starts at the workbench or in the machine shop.  For me, it all begins at the timber yard.  I’ve never started a client commission without handpicking the timber boards myself and I’m not planning on changing this.  A coherent design can be undermined through indiscriminate choice of timber, so it’s just not a risk worth taking.

If you’re buying veneered panels, it’s possible to get near identical colour, tone and pattern throughout an entire project.  For solid timber it simply isn’t that straightforward.  Solid timber can show huge variations between different boards from the same supplier, even from the same tree.  One of the many reasons I don’t use imported timber is that it is often supplied in mixed packs - the timber may come graded to the same thickness, length and width, but the boards themselves can come from different trees, in different forests, in different countries…….  

If I’m sourcing for a new commission, I’ll want to be certain that all of the boards come from the same tree.  Often this will mean sequential boards as the log is milled, but sometimes I’ll be looking for different characteristics for various components in the build. I may want the components to be quarter sawn - this has both an impact on the dimensional stability of the timber, but also aesthetically (for example medullary rays showing in oak, or lacewood appearance in London plane).

On occasion I’ve taken clients with me to the timber yard - not only a good opportunity to show what the commission may look like at an early stage, but also to gain an insight into the timber that will be coming into their home - where the tree stood, how old it was, why it was felled.