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Vibration-proof: the new table
Photo: Benjamin Schulz / DER SPIEGEL
It's not entirely clear to me when it happened.
But at some point between buying my first Japanese saw and expanding my range to four (okay, six), I became a grumbler.
The kind of guy who usually just shakes his head in the hardware store and complains about the poor quality of the goods.
And who, when visiting the furniture store, criticizes the poor construction of the exhibits, usually with the addition "and insanely expensive".
When we needed a new kitchen table (the old one could no longer withstand the jolting attacks of certain family members), we had the opportunity to finally do something instead of nagging.
I would be able to manage poor quality material in a lousy construction myself, I was sure of that.
But of course much cheaper than in a furniture store.
Some time ago I bought a trailer load of rough sawn timber cheaply in the neighboring town.
Four of them served me as raw material for the table - material costs a good 30 euros.
It was made of softwood, rather knotty, and only suitable to a limited extent for furniture construction, especially much too soft for a heavily used table top.
But before I might spend hundreds of euros on pretty hardwood planks, I first wanted to know whether such a table construction would not be beyond my capabilities.
And whether my intended design is any good.
If only firewood was produced in the end, the loss would have been more tolerable.
I had a plain specimen in mind.
Four legs, four frames, connected by a slot and tenon.
On top of it a plate, glued together myself.
An experiment in wood.
You can see here that something like this is also possible in perfection.
If you want to see the opposite, look at my table.
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The table top, anything but a flatterer
He's the ugly duckling under the tables - unfortunately with no prospect of ever becoming a pretty swan.
My table has inadvertently become two-tone, which is due to the choice and quality of the wood.
I didn't feel like painting.
The record is anything but flattering, because my planing skills were not up to the uncontrolled branches.
I wasn't in the mood for tedious sanding in view of the fact that I might replace the plate with a specimen made of nicer and more robust wood.
That would make sense because a small branch has broken out on one edge - ideal for catching your trousers.
After all, the table is solid, nothing wobbles even after the first few months, it can withstand all shaking.
I dare to say that it is at least as stable as specimens that you can buy for 30 euros.
A feeling of comfort
When I sat down at the finished table for the first time, I was satisfied for a moment.
Just a few years ago I would not have dared to undertake such a project at all - and now I have built something that, with some goodwill, can be called a piece of furniture.
This feeling was even rudimentarily ennobled literarily and described in "Robinson Crusoe".
After this is stranded on the island, he begins to set up his home there, including furniture: "I then began to make those items that seemed to me the most necessary, namely above all a table and a chair, because without them I would not even be little comfort that was offered to me in the world, would have been able to enjoy. "
For me, I can state that this comfort is always felt when I sit down at my table.
The good feeling of having made it yourself still lingers.
The frustration with the messed up table top, too.
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