jack

Stop right there - £60 a leg would be perfect! I'd guessed 60 x 10 but I trust your and his eyes over mine. We were actually thinking of just leaving it raw (with the mill scale still on it - it'll probably flake off on the bends). We did that with the handrail on our stairs and it's developed some really nice patinated areas. Where's your mate based? Edited to add: maybe by PM would be better... Thanks

Exactly. That's why I don't want to spend a lot of money on it!

It's basically this (but dark coloured legs):

Interesting stuff, thanks! We had a blacksmith (guy who did our stair balustrades) lined up to handle this last year, but he's since closed his business and gone to work in an entirely different field. We'll likely be looking again. The big issue with the legs is getting all the angles even and the bends regular. Perhaps that's easy to do - I (as usual) haven't a clue.

Ha, I know you have this stuff and that it isn't yours. I'd have been at your doorstep with a pile of oak and a case of beer otherwise!

The existing table isn't in great nick overall, and even with the right top wouldn't be anything like the look we're after. I was thinking about just dumping a piece of ply in place of the existing tabletop, but that will remove all incentive to get the oak done! Interesting idea. I don't presently have a router, but have long been looking for an excuse to buy one! The boards will be slightly separated from each other, so this shouldn't be an issue.

Sounds like we're order of magnitude in the right region, thanks Jeremy. I'd rather not wait another year - our current table is falling apart!

Interesting stuff, thanks Mike. I wouldn't want to pass these on and buy replacements. One of the main aims here is to have the tabletop come from the same site as the house, and to get some meaningful use out of a tree that we felt bad about cutting down (it was in poor nick, but still...). Given it's been around 4 years since the tree was cut down, and 2.5 years since it was planked, I'm willing to take the risk. I can live with a bit of movement after it's made. I'm not interested in a billiard table smooth finish on the top, either.

Pretty sure that's wrong for an internal ceiling of a dwelling. We had to have pink in the garage, but not in the house.

Very kind of you to offer. I'm not sure how much welding is involved - it's mainly about getting a reasonably small-radius bend in the steel. We've looked into that option but can't find anything with the right legs. Anything in this general style tends to be very clunky. That table you linked is a tidy bit of work. We're thinking of getting it painted/powder coated in RAL 7016, same as our windows. Everything I've read about oak in the past suggests that it's now probably too tough to do much with hand tools (and a lot of time). I think the toughness that comes with seasoning is a large part of why oak frames are usually done while the oak is green. Suspect you're right. Even if the tools were up to the job, it'd take forever, and there's still a decent chance I wouldn't manage to get it flat anyway. Eye-watering = several hundred quid (admittedly including painting). It's frustrating because I know the cost of the metal is minimal, plus there's little if any cutting or welding involved. Just some bending and a few holes to allow attachment to the tabletop. Yes, there are all sorts of things available online, but most of them we find pretty unappealing tbh. They tend to be roughly made and/or too chunky looking. Believe me, we've looked! No!

A couple of years ago, we planked part of an oak tree that we took down before we built. The aim is to make a table something like this (but without the live edge): http://livingwood.sk/solid-wood-furniture-tables-table-with-steel-legs-s-8 The three largest planks will give us 2 x 350mm and 1 x 300mm wide planks once squared off, which gives us the ~1m width we're after. The log we planked had already been lying there for a couple of years when we planked it, and it's been stacked drying in our garage since then. Naturally, the planks have warped quite a bit while drying out. This is them in our hall after we brought them inside last week: The planks we're thinking of using are all 50-60mm thick. So the questions are: Given this is seasoned oak, what chance do I realistically have of flattening it out using a hand plane (I have a sharp Record 5 1/2) and cheap electric planer? Failing that, who would you approach about getting the planks flattened? I think I'm after a thicknesser planer, but what sorts of outfits would offer this sort of service to the public? Sawmills? Joiners? Re: the legs, we've had some quotes back from various places and they're pretty eye-watering for what's effectively some bent lengths of steel. Is it realistic to expect to be able to do this myself? If so, ideas on how to approach? I assuming heating the bend points would be helpful, but I really haven't a clue about how to approach something like this! Thanks as always.

I believe it depends what you're after in our council (Waverley). If it's to do with extensions or refurbs, you can book a free appointment. As soon you talk about knocking the house down, you're a developer, and they won't say a word without you paying. We avoided the fee by talking about it as if we were significantly refurbing the bungalow we owned, rather than knocking it down.

For those not following this exchange - viewer discretion advised:

Welcome to Buildhub! Your character (assuming your user name is a Watchmen reference rather than the Rorschach test more generally) has one of the best lines of any superhero film, imo. I assume you know the one I mean...

What was the weather like in Dublin this year? Certainly in the southeast of England, by the time the hottest weather got here, we'd had many weeks without significant rain, and I would easily have gone through 7,000 litres of water just keeping the gardens alive.

As Lizzie said, a good one just does an immeasurably better job than 95% of general trades. I wasn't here when ours did his magic, but I understand they run a bead of silicon then follow up with some sort of stick to smooth it out. The result is a sharp, even edge and a relatively flat surface to the bead. It's a very tidy finish, especially in bathrooms with modern, clean lines. When we had our bathrooms re-done following the roof leak, the tilers did the mastic, and it really (really!) shows. We were actually on holiday when this bit was done and my father in law, who was supervising, made them re-do it, so even their re-done, better version is still a long way from the mastic man's quality of work.

We had a very similar "mastic man" in to do a lot of our mastic work. The difference between the quality of his work and what's been done by other trades (plumbers and tilers, mostly) is palpable to say the least!

I'm so glad to hear it wasn't just me with problems getting old protective films off. The stuff on our cills was a nightmare to get off two years after installation. I have this job coming up and am seriously not looking forward to it. In some places there's nearly zero access, too

We missed this one for the crane+operator we engaged to move our windows into place. Didn't realise until about two years later!

I second the cheap stairs suggestion. We bought a cheap set and had to cobble up a couple of extra steps at the bottom to make up the height difference. So much safer and easier for all concerned. Your tradies will thank you!

Based on that definition, then if (if!) there's a precipitate of aragonite, the water will be softer.

No matter what the arguments for how this is supposed to work, this statement doesn't seem right to me: Crystals of aragonite are not more easily taken up by plants than dissolved ions. This is exactly what happens inside our boiling water tap's tank. I poured out a whole pile of it a few months ago, leaving a surprising bright element.

Interesting link here: http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/water/water_descaling.html Search for aragonite.

If they're relying on the properties of aragonite as suggested above by Polly, then they must either be: - somehow changing the dissolved ions in such a way that if/when they later precipitate, they do so as aragonite (this would be a big claim if made); or - (much more likely) the device causes early precipitation - presumably at the "catalyst" rather than in the boiler or tap - into fine aragonite particles. If so, then testing would be a simple matter of using a fine filter that lets dissolved ions past but captures aragonite particles. So what size are these alleged particles? Doing so was a nice touch.

The mods are discussing it, but for the moment there's something of value to our members in allowing the discussion to go on. If nothing else, any potential purchasers will hopefully have some questions to ask before buying (or can judge for themselves the quality and usefulness of the company's replies).