Coffee Table

Posted on June 10th, 2008 in Activities.

At long last, my coffee table is finished. About one and one half years ago this project was started and actually saw really good progress until all the cutting and fitting was completed. For months it sat waiting only for some sanding and finishing. Unfortunately, this is the phase that I like the least. I basically feel incompetent at wood finishing and for some reason in my head this seems like a frivolous exercise best left to the reader. Of course in reality I didn’t do too bad of a finishing job and gee golly it actually looks a heck-of-a lot better than raw unsanded wood. Now I can start thinking about that desk I’ve been wanting to build. Look for a post about that probably sometime in 2010.


Craftsman style coffee table of cherry and finished in a blond shellac.

Update: here are some photos of the jig I put together to guide the table top on edge in order to cut the underside bevels.

  

 

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4 responses

  1. Hopson says:

    Added on June 10th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

    Looks like it really ties the room together. Well worth the wait.

  2. Barry says:

    Added on June 10th, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    Very nice!

  3. Steve says:

    Added on July 17th, 2008 at 2:08 am

    hey that looks great. where do i sign up to get one of my own. how did you get the top so flat? nice job.

  4. Scott (blog author) says:

    Added on July 20th, 2008 at 7:04 pm

    The top is a glue-up of 4 planks. As it sat out in the humid garage this winter, it did warp a bit. Luckily bringing it inside to warm up with some weights on top brought it back pretty close. The next time I make a top like this, I will use narrower strips – maybe 2 inch. Paying close attention to the grain, I will alternate the pieces so that any cupping between two adjacent pieces will go in opposite directions. Cupping should be mostly eliminated though by using narrower stock.

    The most challenging part of the top was cutting the bevel on the underside of the edges. I had to rig up a funky jig so I could run the top through the table saw standing vertically on each edge – yikes! I think I have a picture of the jig. I’ll add it to the post if I can find it.

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