Suggestions at coffee table design


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Hi All,

 

Diving into building a new coffee table for myself, and I wanted to keep it sort of minimal (never using the word simple to describe anything I have to build) since it'll be the first attempt at building something with mortise and tenons. I've got a hometown soft spot for the Roycroft style.

 

Also, I'm a bit of a tabletop games, but with an 18 month old (who will probably be 3 before I finish this...) running around, I thought that the recessed game surface would be a good idea for hiding longer running games. 

 

But before I get started, I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions, improvements or warnings. So...thoughts?

 

Overall size is 48 x 28 and 23" high for reference. I haven't dimensioned anything else out yet, just tried to build a model that looked aesthetically pleasing.

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If you can hold off a couple months, Marc's doing a gaming table next in the Guild...I believe it starts in September.  Something tells me it won't be "minimal," but I'm sure it'll be awesome and he'll walk you through the entire build.  If nothing else, you'll get some ideas to incorporate into your own if you don't choose to build the same one.

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Thanks all!

 

Are the top and the bottom shelf going to be solid wood or plywood?

 

I was thinking solid wood glue up for both the top and bottom. I was thinking of cutting the tenons so that the wedge would go through the glue joint, and lock the pieces in place. Does it make any sense doing it that way?

For the underside of the removable top panel, I was thinking of stretching felt/baize like a card table, so it could be a level card surface. Maybe a plywood panel would work better for the top panel if it will be removed regularly and used on both sides?

 

If you can hold off a couple months, Marc's doing a gaming table next in the Guild...I believe it starts in September.  Something tells me it won't be "minimal," but I'm sure it'll be awesome and he'll walk you through the entire build.  If nothing else, you'll get some ideas to incorporate into your own if you don't choose to build the same one.

 

 

Thanks, I hadn't seen that yet. The "free" bench project that was just posted was the first video of Mark's that I've watched. I'll have to look at the guild cost levels to see if I can swing it in the budget right now.

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A ledge or slot under the bottom shelf to store the removable top would come in handy.

I like your idea for a reversible felt on one side top. Maybe a ply center with 1/8 to 1/4" thick solid edge-banding and a slight groove to turn the felt down into just inside the edgeband. Make a test piece from scrap and figure out how big the groove would need to be.

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A ledge or slot under the bottom shelf to store the removable top would come in handy.

I like your idea for a reversible felt on one side top. Maybe a ply center with 1/8 to 1/4" thick solid edge-banding and a slight groove to turn the felt down into just inside the edgeband. Make a test piece from scrap and figure out how big the groove would need to be.

That's a great idea. Thanks!
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  • 2 weeks later...

I was out of town for a while, but finally built the tenons into the model and pulled it apart to dimension. Trying to figure out how to come up with the board foot quantity, but I'm not really understanding how to do it or whether to take the piece thickness into account.

This is the first time I'll be getting boards from anywhere other than a big box so trying to figure this out. The place I'm most likely going to get the wood, Niagara Lumber (niagaralumber.com) lists white oak as both 4/4 and 5/4 and width as 4" and wider, avg 6-7"

So if I wanted to have 2.5" square legs, how do I work that in, being thicker than either thickness they have?

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The legs can be made by glueing thinner pieces together. One board foot = 144 cubic inches. Sometimes it is easier to calculate by inches first. Plan to purchase extra material to cover waste, and be sure the boards arr long enough to make the parts you need. Width and thickness can be made up by glueing boards together if necessary. Length, not so much.

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The legs can be made by glueing thinner pieces together. One board foot = 144 cubic inches. Sometimes it is easier to calculate by inches first. Plan to purchase extra material to cover waste, and be sure the boards arr long enough to make the parts you need. Width and thickness can be made up by glueing boards together if necessary. Length, not so much.

Thanks, so during lunch I attempted to work up the numbers. I'm not sure if I added things up correctly when it comes to the .5" and .75" boards, but it looks like I'd need close to 17.3 bd. ft. I'm guessing I'd likely need at least 20 bd ft? Like every good school boy, I've shown my work below. :P 

This count doesn't include the removable top, drawer bottom, or bottom shelf, I think I'm going to go with plywood and and edge banding for them at this point...maybe. But, just so I can visualize how much wood I'm getting. They say they average 6-7" wide and 6-8' long. If I ballpark 5/4 x 6 x 6, that's like 3.75bd. ft. right? So understanding that the sizes will vary, I'm only looking at 5-7 boards? Trying to decide which vehicle to bring. 

Also, their site says:
"Surfacing is included at no extra cost. Surfaced thickness is approximately 3/16" - 1/4" less then rough thickness. Jointing one edge is available at $.15/linear foot"
I don't have a planer or jointer, so I'm guessing it'd be worth the added cost to have them do that?

 

BoardFoot-Calculation.jpg

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I am so anal about milling my stock, i would never trust someone else to do it especially on machines i have not checked and or tuned myself. The milling process is as important as the foundation of a house. You start with an out out of square uneven foundation everything is harder from that point on. The other thing is your lumber could go wonky on you after you get it in your shop after they have milled it. I always only mill up the stock i need for the next step and i rough mill, sticker for a day, eyeball all parts and re joint as needed and bring to final thickness. Im really not trying to be negative im just trying to save you from having to cut joinery in bananas and then try to fit it all together. Do you have any hand planes? Are you able to joint your stock by hand and pay to use a planer somewhere. Do you have access to a local guild or ww school that you could use their stuff? If there are other options i would explore them, you will enjoy this build much, much more.

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I am so anal about milling my stock, i would never trust someone else to do it especially on machines i have not checked and or tuned myself. The milling process is as important as the foundation of a house. You start with an out out of square uneven foundation everything is harder from that point on. The other thing is your lumber could go wonky on you after you get it in your shop after they have milled it. I always only mill up the stock i need for the next step and i rough mill, sticker for a day, eyeball all parts and re joint as needed and bring to final thickness. Im really not trying to be negative im just trying to save you from having to cut joinery in bananas and then try to fit it all together. Do you have any hand planes? Are you able to joint your stock by hand and pay to use a planer somewhere. Do you have access to a local guild or ww school that you could use their stuff? If there are other options i would explore them, you will enjoy this build much, much more.

I have one old Stanley block plane that was my grandfathers. Probably hasn't been used or sharpened since the mid 90s... I don't know  of any guild or schools that I could go to. There's sort of a makerspace downtown, but I've never been, and from what I hear the machines are beat on pretty hard. The only other option I might have is a guy I occasionally run into in town. He's one of the local Roycroft artisans and has a nice shop, but I don't know if I know him THAT well. He's made some frames for me, and I've had some beers with him, but don't know if I can encroach on the man's professional space... :)

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I have one old Stanley block plane that was my grandfathers. Probably hasn't been used or sharpened since the mid 90s... I don't know  of any guild or schools that I could go to. There's sort of a makerspace downtown, but I've never been, and from what I hear the machines are beat on pretty hard. The only other option I might have is a guy I occasionally run into in town. He's one of the local Roycroft artisans and has a nice shop, but I don't know if I know him THAT well. He's made some frames for me, and I've had some beers with him, but don't know if I can encroach on the man's professional space... :)

You might be surprised. Explain the situation and tell him your willing to throw some beers or a few bucks his way. I know for me i would love to help someone out with my tools. I would probably want to do it for them but i would do it happily and wouldnt want a penny. You are welcome to come to my shop and i will mill it for you, might be a little far though....:D
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Had a bit of free time last Saturday morning, so I ran over to the lumber dealer in town to check what kind of stock they had and spoke with guy. Way more friendly than I was expecting (was expecting sighs and eye rolling at the "newbie" questions), even with my 18 month old crawling all over me while talking... But the stuff looks good, looks like it'll run me around $250 for 40bd ft of 5/4 QS White Oak. The pile that was there then was all around 8' long and 6-8-ish wide. My figuring works out to needing about 26 bd. ft. if I make the removeable top and bottom shelf from boards rather than plywood, but I'm thinking that I may not make the most efficient use of the boards at this point, and assuming that I'll be recutting some pieces when I screw up a tenon or something, I want to get plenty of extra. I'm going to see if I can get over there this Saturday morning, pick up the boards, take it home and let it acclimate while we are out of town next week, then maybe get started next weekend.

Also, just thinking ahead, I've seen video and read about using a lock miter router bit to make 4-sided QS legs, but other than the added surface area to...well, lock the pieces together, is there anything wrong with just gluing up 4 miter joints? Probably require a lot of clamps to keep from slipping while gluing, but is the finished product much weaker?

 

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I'n thinking I'm going to put a slight taper on the inside 2 faces on the bottom couple inches of the legs, 1/4" or less on the bottom 3 inches. If I do the veneer, do I cut the taper first then lay the veneer on, or make the veneered faces thicker so I'm not cutting all of it off?

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I'm gonna kind of agree with Ross twice in one week.  The tapering makes the veneering idea trickier for sure for the reasons he mentioned.

But don't underestimate how difficult those mitered legs will be to build.  Be sure you're able to get dead-nuts straight miter cuts, use some kind of additional joinery e.g. biscuits, dowels, dominoes...and be prepared for a glue and clamp debacle.

Also keep in mind that it makes the rest of the joinery more challenging now that you have hollow legs.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, the original timeline didn't work out and I couldn't get the wood before vacation, but had a short work day yesterday so I was able to scoot over to the lumber yard. The guy there was VERY patient with me while I made a display of being very thorough in selecting boards, though really I was just looking through the pile as I realized I have a lot to learn about what makes a great board. But now I've got it and I'll attempt to leave it alone for a few days...

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