A Trestle Table takes about 70 hours at the bench. We build two pieces at a time, so 70 hours is about three weeks of work. The other nine weeks are waiting, and most of the waiting is on purpose.
Week 1: we pick your boards and email a photo with chalk lines. Weeks 2 and 3: the boards sit in the shop to settle to its humidity, because oak moves after it’s cut.
We’d rather tell you the real number and keep it.
Weeks 4 to 9: the queue. There are usually two builds ahead of yours, about three weeks each. Weeks 10 and 11: the build, trestles first, then the stretcher, then the top. Week 12: three coats of soap or oil, a day apart. Then the crate.
We could shorten the queue by hiring. We’d rather tell you the real number and keep it. If a build is going to be late, we say so by week 9, not week 12.
