Halt Dining Table

C-Channels

The moisture content in the was wayyy higher than promised by the mill. So milling the slab down to final thickenss was a bear - it wanted to cup within hours of getting it flat. "Actually, can you make the legs dark...like...almost black?" This was quite a puzzling comment, since none of the design concepts we had discussed previously featured dark wood. And of course the base was already assembled with beautiful locally sourced 8/4 white oak. I learned later that they had hired an interior designer who was pressing hard for a dark base to add some contrast to the room. After some back and forth, they seemed pretty set on the idea, so I went to work experimenting with some dark finishes.

A Dark Surprise

As the build was coming to a close (about 300 days since the initial design breif), the clients had an unexpected last miniute request: "Actually, can you make the legs dark...like...almost black?" This was quite a puzzling comment, since none of the design concepts we had discussed previously featured dark wood. And of course the base was already assembled with beautiful locally sourced 8/4 white oak. I learned later that they had hired an interior designer who was pressing hard for a dark base to add some contrast to the room. After some back and forth, they seemed pretty set on the idea, so I went to work experimenting with some dark finishes.

Now, having drawn inspiration from George Nakashima's work, I was a bit hesitant to make such a drastic change to the design - especially one that so harshly contrasts Nakashima's design philosophy. I knew I had to make it *really* work, and somehow feel like an honest, intentional addition to the piece. Adding some dark stain from the hardware store would have been a diaster, and a big waste of the time and resources I'd spent picking, milling, laying, and carefully joining the white oak lumber.

I did some research and sampled a ton of different ideas, but ultimately settled on a custom mix of Rubio Monocoat's "Charcoal" color and "Black" pre-finish. This combination didn't wash out the grain quite like most of the other options, in fact it actually highlighted some of the finder details.

I'm not sure how Nakashima would have felt about this, but it turned out looking a lot better than I anticipated. It defintely grounds the piece in the room, and ties in well with the epoxy filled cracks and knot holes. The clients were thrilled with the result, and I was happy to have been able to adapt the design to their needs.

C-Channels

The moisture content in the was wayyy higher than promised by the mill. So milling the slab down to final thickenss was a bear - it wanted to cup within hours of getting it flat. "Actually, can you make the legs dark...like...almost black?" This was quite a puzzling comment, since none of the design concepts we had discussed previously featured dark wood. And of course the base was already assembled with beautiful locally sourced 8/4 white oak. I learned later that they had hired an interior designer who was pressing hard for a dark base to add some contrast to the room. After some back and forth, they seemed pretty set on the idea, so I went to work experimenting with some dark finishes.