Coffee table

[Derek Cohen]

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.

[Derek Cohen]

Gotta show a tool - these were made with a Veritas Jack Rabbet (to balance the recent post of a power router for the mortices) ...





Another change is the legs are connected with hex bolts. I really could not envisage the coffee table living a life with a loose top ..





This was a very straightforward build. The only slight challenge was the legs - turning them precisely, and then morticing for the rails.

The mortices were first cut in the blanks ..



.. and then turned ..



That's Peter Galpert's caliper on the lathe bed. I really recommend it for sizing spindles.

The tenons were fitted into the mortice ...



... and marked out:



.. before being rebated (is that the correct term here?) for the shoulder ...



And that was it. Finish was a coat of Livos Universal Wood Oil to add a little amber to the very light maple. Then 5 coats of General Finishes water based poly was rubbed on for durability. This adds a little shine. Looks great.

Can't wait to see Jamie's face!


Regards from Perth

Derek

[fredhargis]

That is so cool! Thanks for the pics showing the build!

[titanxt]

I really like the clean look and how well executed it is! Very nice for sure.

[Woodworm!]

Nice. I think I would have rounded over the ends of the table legs a little so it has a softer look.

[Big Dave]

Projects like that are the most fun for me. And a surprise is a great finishing touch!
 


Well done, Derek!

[mvflaim]

That jack rabbet plane is bad adze

[Handplanesandmore]

I seldom look at forum projects because of different interests. By chance, I saw your coffee table and must give it a thumbs-up for its simple and clean design. I suppose screw holes are elongated if where your son lives has a significantly different humidity condition than yours.

In addition to the other suggestion about a softer look on the legs, the only thing I would change is to have the end of the legs shown on the tabletop with a decorative wedge tenon made of a dark wood for contrast, just like the breadboard key in the Japanese piece (ie, they are not real wedges).

Thanks for sharing.

Simon

[Derek Cohen]

WW and Simon, thanks for the comments on the ends of the legs. I planned to chamfer them, and forgot! Will do it now.

Simon, I did consider accents of a dark wood. in the end the simple concept won out.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Tapper]

Lovely, as always Derek, all the way around!

Doug