Coffee table

[Duane N]

Well executed build all around. 

[stav]

Very cool. I love the cleanness of the whole thing.  Definitely better than anything from Ikea.

[AHill]

Great job and great mods to the original design, Derek! Several years ago, the water line to my fridge busted (poor installation job by the supplier). The home flooded. All my solid wood furniture survived. The particle board stuff not so much. The restoration folks told me that rarely does anything from IKEA survive water damage. It just disintegrates. So, you're providing your son with some insurance as well as practical furniture. Well done, sir.

[hbmcc]

Finally! It's about time you earned more than a penny-an-hour for your work. 
 But, really, something made in your garage should never be compared to Ikea. Ever. So, did you get that hardware from Ikea? 

It looks nice. A touch of deja vu. ... (Thinking: "Which parts will break first when someone falls or sits on it?") 

This nod to a Bedouin  lifestyle most young people go through will be a true blessing. Break away furniture is even great for an older family that redecorates on a whim. I understand Ikea purges (dumps) build up on city sidewalks every month or so.

I think the bowtie spline on Ishitani's end board serves a similar function as the characteristic Greene and Greene Ebony splines. They conceal the fluctuating corner edges caused by seasonal movement of the two pieces.

[FrankAtl]

Been watching some of Ishitani's videos myself lately. Enjoyable videos and creative designs as well.

Great job on the table!

[cputnam]

Very clean and very nice. I like the look. Will you adopt me?

[Gary G™]

Another beauty. ...

[Timberwolf]

It's been a long time since I made a coffee table. This one is for my son, who recently moved to Sydney. New city, new job. He has found a great apartment, and has begun to request furniture, first a coffee table to replace an Ikea piece his girlfriend purchased. I think that he is playing with fire! No, she's great


It's a long weekend in a fortnight, and Lynndy and I plan to visit. (We have family in Sydney, and old friends from when we lived there 30 years ago). My idea was to build a coffee table and take it on the plane as a sort of surprise (he knows I am building it, but will not expect it this way). Fun, eh?


So, I needed a knock-down design. And a design along the lines of Danish Modern, which would fit in nicely in his home. 

I was taken with a piece by a Japanese maker, Ishitani. He has some great builds on YouTube which are worth looking up. Inspiration came from this design of his ...



The top lifts off ...



... and the legs come apart ...



The coffee table required two weekends to complete. That's a nice change from the pieces I've been building. The wood is Hard Maple. I've grown to like this stuff.

I made a few changes to the design. Firstly, it is a little slimmer and larger (I think): 38" long x 28" wide and 16 1/2" high. Plus a few modifications.

Here's the table ...



To take this shot I had to crawl on the carpet. Much of the underside is unlikely to be seen, even at a distance.



Here's what it looks like underneath. Where Ishitani left his rails straight, I've added a curve (you know me and curves) ..



The legs come off for packing flat ...



Join at the centre ...



Ishitani connected breadboard ends with a dovetailed spline. I have used a true drawbored breadboard construction. The weather in Sydney changes from dry cold in Winter to high humidity in summer. I did not think that a dovetail would cope with this.

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Outstanding, as usual...