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Storm-Fallen Ash to Viking Table: A Full Build Guide

Jesper·28 March 2026·Updated 14 April 2026

It Started with a Storm

A neighbor called me. A big ash tree had come down in their garden overnight. Did I want any of it?

I drove over with a chainsaw and a trailer. Two hours later I had enough timber to build a table that would last longer than both of us.

That's the thing about storm-fallen wood. It feels different to work with. The tree didn't get harvested. It fell on its own terms. There's something right about turning that into furniture.

This is how I built a Viking-style dining table from that ash. The full process, from log to finish.

Why Ash

Ash is an underrated furniture wood. It's tough, it's flexible, and the grain is dramatic. Long, straight lines that make every surface look purposeful. It was the timber of choice for tool handles, axe shafts, and oar shafts for centuries. The Vikings knew what they were doing.

Storm-fallen ash is also fully seasoned if it's been down for a while. The tree was already dead before it fell. The wood was dry and stable. I got lucky.

If you can't source storm-fallen wood, any air-dried or kiln-dried ash will work. Look for boards with consistent color and no major splits running along the length.

Milling the Logs

I don't have a sawmill. I used an Alaskan chainsaw mill attachment on my guide bar to turn the logs into slabs. It's slow work and you end up with an arm workout, but the result is rough-sawn slabs that are genuinely yours.

The slabs needed stickering immediately after milling. I stacked them with 25mm gaps between each piece and left them for several months to finish drying before touching them with a plane.

Patience at this stage saves a lot of heartache later. Wood that isn't fully dry will move on you. A table that rocks three months after you built it because a board cupped is not a good feeling.

Dimensioning

Once the slabs were fully dry, I dimensioned them on the bench.

For the crosscuts, the Festool Kapex KS 120 did the work. It's the saw I reach for on every project where the cut actually matters. The quick clamp locks the workpiece in one move. The cut quality is clean enough that I barely needed to touch the ends after.

Ripping the edges to width I did with a track saw run along a chalk line. Ash is hard. Use a fresh blade.

Then I hand-planed the faces. This is the step where ash rewards you. The grain catches the light and shifts as you move around the piece. A good hand-planed ash surface is genuinely beautiful.

The Viking Design

"Viking style" for me means heavy, honest joinery. Nothing hidden, nothing decorative for its own sake. Everything has a reason.

The base is a pair of thick trestles, joined by a central stretcher. The stretcher is held in place with wedged through-tenons. No glue. No bolts. The wedges tighten as the wood dries further and the whole thing becomes more solid over time.

This is how furniture was built before metal fasteners. It still works.

For the trestle joinery, the Festool Domino DF 500 cut the mortises. I know using a Domino on a "Viking style" build sounds contradictory. But the Domino cuts a precise, repeatable mortise in seconds. The tenons are still hand-fitted. The machine just gets me to the line faster.

The Domino is the joinery tool I'd least want to give up. It turns what used to be a half-day of layout and chiseling into a twenty-minute job, and it does it more accurately.

Flattening the Top

This was the most time-consuming part. Ash moves. Even properly dried ash has opinions about staying flat.

I built a simple router sled from scrap plywood to flatten the slab top. Two parallel rails, a sled that spans them, a plunge router in the sled. Work across the face in overlapping passes.

It took about two hours to get the top flat. Then I moved to hand planes to remove the router marks, working diagonally across the grain to lift any remaining high spots.

A winding stick makes high spots obvious. Two straight sticks at opposite ends of the board. Sight across the tops. Any twist shows up immediately.

Flatten until the winding sticks run parallel. Then work with the grain to clean up the surface.

Final prep: sand through 80, 120, 150. I stopped at 150 for the ash, which is the right stopping point before applying Rubio Monocoat.

Finishing

I used Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C in a warm natural tone. One coat, worked into the grain with a plastic scraper, wiped clean after five minutes.

Ash takes the oil beautifully. The grain pops. The color warms up without looking stained. It still looks like wood, which is exactly the point.

Two things I always say about Rubio Monocoat:

First, sand to 150, not finer. The oil needs open grain to bond with the fiber. Sand finer and it sits on the surface instead of penetrating. That leads to sticky patches and uneven color.

Second, wipe off all the excess. Every bit of it. Anything left on the surface stays tacky. Give yourself five minutes from application to wipe-off, then clean up with a cloth until the surface feels dry.

Full cure is five days. Don't put anything heavy on the table before then.

For a table that will take spills, heat, and daily use, I also applied Rubio's hardwax finish as a topcoat in the second component. It adds durability without changing the look or feel of the surface.

Assembly

The trestles go together without glue. Domino tenons fit into mortises. Through-tenons get their wedges driven home. The stretcher slots in between.

I dry-fitted everything twice before final assembly. Ash is not forgiving if a joint is slightly out of square. Fix it before glue goes anywhere near it.

The top attaches to the trestles with figure-eight clips set into the underside. These allow the top to move with seasonal moisture changes without cracking or blowing a joint. On a solid-wood table, wood movement is real and you have to design for it.

Clips let the top breathe. Screws into the trestle rail don't.

The Result

The finished table is about 220cm long and seats eight. It weighs enough that two people struggle to lift it. The grain runs straight and clear across the full length of the top.

The wedged stretcher is what people ask about first. It looks like a detail and it is. But it also tells you exactly how the table was made. No hiding the joinery. No veneer. Just clean, honest timber from a tree that fell in a storm.

That's the kind of furniture I want to build.

What I'd Do Differently

The trestle feet could be wider. The table is stable, but ash is heavy and a slightly wider foot would give me more peace of mind on uneven floors.

I'd also mill the slabs slightly thicker to start. I lost more material than expected getting everything flat. Starting at 55mm instead of 45mm would have given me more margin.

Tools Used in This Build

Full tool recommendations are on the tools hub.

If you want to build something similar, the plans and cut list for this table are available in the shop. Dimensions, joint details, and a material guide for sourcing ash.

A tree fell. It became a table. That table will be in someone's kitchen in a hundred years.

That's what woodworking is.

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