Laminated Cherry Table Top
Back in the summer of 2022 I made a cherry high top table and chair set for our family. It was made to stay outside on the covered porch. Being outside year-round has caused the originally flat top to warp more than I would like so it was time for a redesign. I decided a laminated cherry top would lend itself to an outside table because of the greater stability it offers. While more labor intensive than a plain-sawn top, it should hold up better over the long haul. This project started with me milling some cherry boards to 1” thick before ripping them into 1-3/16” wide strips, lots of strips. I kept the width at 1-3/16” because that determines the thickness of the top once they are laid on their sides and glued back together. I made the top in two separate glue ups to keep them manageable and used a fixture to hold the strips flat and their ends lined up while I applied the glue. After cleaning off the dried glue both halves were run through the planer to get their faces flat before they were glued together. Once the top was whole and the glue dried it was to the surface sander before cutting them to final sizes, routing the edges, final sanding and applying the finish. Let’s hope this is the long-term solution I was looking for.
