Custom dining table by John Buchanan

A while back I found a dining (trestle-style) table that I really liked the lines of; however, it was made in Vietnam and I was not confident in its quality.

I sent some pictures of the table that I liked to Duane and asked him if John Buchanan could build the piece since I trust John's workmanship & quality. Of course, John got every detail perfect!! I LOVE this table!!!

I received this table in early 2010 but we moved last year & life has been hectic! Anyway, here are some loooong overdue pictures of my new custom tiger maple trestle dining table:
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I was confident in using Duane & John. I have now purchased several pieces through Duane and John Buchannan also built a custom sideboard for me back in 2009 which is one of my most cherished pieces of furniture. http://www.myfurnitureforum.com/show...ight=sideboard[/URL]

OMG: It's GORGEOUS. Absolutely beautiful!

Stunning!

Sarah, what stain color did you select for the table? It's lovely--rich and deep.

Hi everyone.

To be honest, I cannot remember the name of that stain. Since John had previously created the sideboard for me, I just said that I wanted the table color to "match the sideboard" and he did it based on the previous color they had on file for my sideboard.

I know that the table's stain color is about as dark as they recommend for tiger maple -- if you go much darker than this, it starts to hide the beautiful grain of the wood.

That color is called "Aged Maple" and done on Tiger (curly) Maple. Its aniline-based with a orange shellac build, and toner coats added to get that overall effect. I think it came out very well, and if I recall correctly the original design was from a piece manufactured in China or Vietnam of 'junk woods'. John struggled with that top I know, he wasn't happy with the figure pattern on the first two he made, but got just what he wanted on the third attempt. Rare is the cabinetmaker critical of his own work, but as he told me on the phone "Sarah is a good customer, I have to get it right so I'll keep doing tops until I get one that I'd be proud to own myself". That's a good old-fashioned American work ethic, and I keep John busy with custom work.

Right now we're doing a multiple piece custom order (just finishing up). Next is a clone of this English Pub Table for a forum member in Florida (photo is of the antique) that will be done in White Oak, and once that's done the next job is a large custom Triple Pedestal Table for another forum member in Pennsylvania using a current Baker table as a pattern (Baker declined to make a table this large, theirs is much smaller). For the Triple Pedestal (see the DR Table.pdf), the customer got quite involved and met John at the wood supplier to select from the hundreds of wood flitches and picked out the set she wanted in its raw state. How cool is that? I've got John booked out now until end of April on custom work....he's still a 1-man operation.

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Sarah, Beautiful table!

I'm the one with the triple pedestal table. Baker actually said they would make the table for 30 grand! Insane!

I'll post pics once my table is completed - probably June/July...

Baker wanted $ 30K??? Oh boy, we came in WAY too cheap on that bid. <laughing>. I sure hope John has your triple ped done before summer...I have more projects for him and need him to build some pieces for the store, too!