Inside the workshop: a day on the bench

The workshop opens at seven. By half past, the kettle is on and the first boards are coming off the rack. This is roughly how a Dining Table gets made, with the boring parts left in.

Seven to ten: selection

Every board is looked at, turned over and looked at again. We match grain across a tabletop so the joins disappear, and set aside anything with a knot in the wrong place for smaller pieces.

Ten to two: joinery

Mortise and tenon, cut by machine and fitted by hand. The fit should need a mallet but not much of one. Glue, clamps, and the long wait.

Two to five: the surface

Planing, then sanding through the grits, then the first coat of oil. This is when the grain comes up and the timber starts to look like furniture rather than wood.

Then it sits. Tomorrow it gets a second coat and a final inspection. The day after, it leaves.