Here are some photos as I am working on the top for a cedar table.
being glued up
the edge with the bark peeled
trimming the ends
arty saw picture
beautiful red sawdust
planning the end…
…up in the air
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The School of the Transfer of Energy 
Arty Saw?
Wasn’t he a jazz clarinet player?
nice
It’s great to be able to see your personal approach to working on a table top of this size. Where many of us would reach for a circular saw or larger router, you persevere and find a way to a hand-plane to plane the end-grain on something so tall! 🙂
Thank you, Olly. It is a balance between what technology is appropriate, what technology I feel like using, and what technology I have. In this case I thought as brittle as the cedar is, hand tools would be less destructive upon the fibers, maybe not, but mostly I just didn’t want to listen to the noise.
Lovely!
yaakov….
Thank you, Yaakov.
WANT TO SEE WHAT YOUR FINISHED PRODUCT WILL LOOK LIKE? I HAVE IT. I HAVE BUILT A CEDAR KITCHEN TABLE “EXACTLY LIKE THE ONE YOU ARE WORKING ON.” EVEN THE SHAPE OF MY TABLE IS THE SAME. I AM TRYING TO FIND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO SEND YOU A PICTURE.
LARRY LEPPERT
i too am building a red cedar table im in the process of drying the wood now. but it will look exactly like this im hopeing. did you use any stain or varnish??
Hi Ben, I hope that your table turns out as you hope. I usually use an oil varnish blend like Watco or tung oil. After it cures I will do a few coats of wipe-on polyurethane sanding between coats. Then I will lightly sand that last coat of poly, and finish with paste wax. The 1st step with the oil/varnish, which is clear in this case, brings out the color in the wood, the poly builds a durable film, especially for a table top, which sees a lot of wear and moisture, and the wax gives an excellent final finish, of which you can control the sheen by buffing, more or less.
thanks for the info man.
how did you join the middle? i dont see a toung and groove there??
Hi Ben, I didn’t put any spline. I may have used dowels if I remember aright, but even so, the slabs are so thick that there is ample surface area for a strong glue joint. That with the supportive structure of the base – if not exposed to weather there is no reason the joint should fail.