Custom-built table for large BGE - Ipê Wood!

mteele · December 2012

My father recently completed his new wood shop, and decided his first project would be to build me a table for my large BGE, which I bought back in July at an Eggfest. Here is a PDF of the plans we came up with in AutoCAD. All the joints are being done with mortise & tenons.

mteele · December 2012

This wood is EXTREMELY heavy and dense, and it is just eating up the carbide router bits and saw blades. Here is a picture of the legs being glued up.

mteele · December 2012

The brace being glued up.

mteele · December 2012

Completed brace

henapple · December 2012

I used ipe on mine...tuff stuff

Rickets · February 7

I'd love to see how it's coming, or better yet, how it turned out.

cortguitarman · February 7

What is the brace for? That is a lot of end grain glued up. Ipe is extremely hard, so I doubt you'll have a problem with splitting, but it could happen.

Botch · February 8

Wow, it chews up carbide too??

mteele · February 19

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have lots more progress pictures, but here is the finished product. You might notice the Egg sits a little low in the table. Well somewhere along the line we got a dimension bust...so we had to route out some of the table top where the hinge needs to clear on the backside. But the table turned out GREAT. This thing feels like a finished piece of furniture. I ordered the short dome cover for the Egg, and will be leaving the rest of the table exposed to the elements....should hold up fine with some regular oiling. I'll try and get some more close up pictures as well for you guys

FearlessTheEggNoob · February 19

Nice craftsmanship. Looks like an Amish-built Big Green Egg table.

Eggcelsior · February 19

That "feels" like a finished piece of furniture?

That IS a finished piece of furniture. With proper venting, I'd use it as my dining room table!

Great job!

mteele · February 19

No kidding, here is a better shot of the top after the first coat of oil

robnybbq · February 19

Very Nice.

MrCookingNurse · February 19

Job well done sir

six_egg · February 19

There are tables and there are works of art. IMO this is art well done.

mteele · February 19

Picture before the stain was applied. This is probably what the wood will revert to looking like if I allow it to weather some.

JJRod305 · February 19

How much for one? Seriously.

GK59 · February 19

Great job on the breadboard style top.

Need to start one for myself.

mteele · February 19

My dad said that he will never work with ipe wood again! It was an absolute beast to work with

nolaegghead · February 19

Nice job! I can sympathize with your dad. I mostly use cypress on wood projects, but occasionally old reclaimed longleaf heart pine. You wouldn't think pine would be tough on tools, but this stuff is.

Let us know how the glue joints hold up - IPE is notoriously tough to glue.

SMITTYtheSMOKER · February 19

Beautiful. Kudos to Dad, he's got skills.

ChokeOnSmoke · February 19

mteele said:

Sorry for the lack of updates, I have lots more progress pictures

Really nice! Would love to see progress pictures...

mteele · February 19

Here is a picture of the top going together. He used his Festool Domino tool & the Sipo Dominos that are made for exterior applications. I think the dominos alone cost me over $120! But all of the ipe wood used to make this table was 100% reclaimed waste. Most of it my dad had been sitting on in his stockpile for 8-10 years, and the remaining pieces we needed came from a mansion under construction in Palm Beach. They were using 20 ft. lengths to build a boardwalk, so they gave the scraps to us as needed.

mteele · February 19

Mortise & tenon close up joint with wood pins securing it

mteele · February 19

Frame assembly

nolaegghead · February 19

Dad has some nice tools - Powermatic, Jet, Festool...

I used the regular birch dominos to put mine together. Glued them all with epoxy and encapsulated the top with epoxy. The table's first birthday is coming up in a few months and it looks as good as the day I finished it. I see your dad has a heart pine worktop on that table.

henapple · February 19

I used Ipe for my frame...slate top. I couldn't believe how hard it was.(that's what she said). Three times more dense than oak and a fire rating of concrete. I applied 3 liberal coats of tung oil. I through bolted the frame.

mteele · February 19

Thanks nolaegghead. Yeah, lots of heart pine over on the storage racks as well. He sometimes gets material from mansions on the beach that are being demolished (for no good reason other than the owner wants to do something like build a matching guest house!). The workshop is brand new along with most of the power tools in it. His old workshop was on 3 phase power, so he had to get rid of all his old tools and buy new ones that run on single phase. Building me this table was the first project he did

mteele · February 19

henapple said:

I used Ipe for my frame...slate top. I couldn't believe how hard it was.(that's what she said). Three times more dense than oak and a fire rating of concrete. I applied 3 liberal coats of tung oil. I through bolted the frame.

Yeah, the flame spread rating of concrete I thought was pretty crazy. I've burned some other brazilian hardwoods before in a wood-fired pizza oven and it was hard to light. But once it did, WOW was it a hot fire.

nolaegghead · February 20

Bummer, going from 3 phase to single. A buddy of mine has a studio down the street with single phase, he has a couple of 3 phase converters....they work fine. Nice tools. I'm a tool geek. Unfortunately, I only have a 600 SF shop, so I have to keep it in check. I do have a small fortune in Festool. LOVE THEM. It's worth the money.

mteele · March 4

What do you guys think about this towel bar handle for the front?

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Custom-built table for large BGE - Ipê Wood!

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