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SoZo Coffee Shop Table Top Series

16K views 47 replies 25 participants last post by  chopnhack 
#1 ·
Coffee Shop Table Top Project

Some friends of mine run a local Coffee Roasting and Espresso Bar here in my area (Michigan), and they contacted me about building six new table tops for their coffee shop. For the design, we decided to inlay their company logo in each table.
Font Art Logo Symbol Graphics


I'm using Maple, Walnut and Cherry.

I decided to start with making the star.
Wood Line Composite material Engineering Musical instrument accessory


Wood Automotive exterior Composite material Tints and shades Metal


Rectangle Wood Floor Flooring Building


Automotive design Triangle Wood Creative arts Automotive wheel system


Wood Tableware Flooring Floor Line


Wood Floor Automotive tire Gas Bumper


Wood Triangle Fixture Font Symmetry


To save some work, I made just two variations, but made them thick enough so that after the glue up, I could slice them in to multiple stars. I did this carefully on the table saw, using my fence with multiple passes as I rotated the star.

Wood Rim Triangle Star Font


Then the table top blanks.
Wood Engineering Gas Machine Workbench


Wood Toy Flooring Hardwood Metal


Now, I'm an amateur, and perhaps there is a better way to do this, but to inlay the stars, I centered them over the table top, traced them with a knife, and routed out the shape to prepare for the star. I cleaned up the corners with chisels and the knife.
Brown Triangle Wood Tile flooring Rectangle


Table Wood Ruler Rectangle Wood stain


Wood Tool Flooring Rim Bicycle part


It's important that you take your time here to make sure your joint lines are tight, but allow the star to fit inside the recessed area. I got better at this as I went along.
Brown Wood Rectangle Wood stain Beige


Then some passes through my homemade drum sander.

Wood Hardwood Flooring Wood stain Plywood


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Flooring Gas


Next is the lettering.

Wood Font Art Signage Logo


Wood Flooring Hardwood Machine Tool


Wood Font Gas Art Flooring


On the first one,I ran it through drum sander after each letter to level off that which sat proud of the surface. On the rest of the table tops I fit all the letters first, then glued them in all at once, before going to the sander.

Wood Crankset Automotive tire Floor Font


And here are a few with the finished logo.

Brown Wood Font Flooring Wood stain


Brown Wood Triangle Art Font


Brown Triangle Wood Font Art


The final dimensions will be 24" x 24". I plan on wrapping each with a 1 1/2 inch frame/edge in the contrasting color. So, for example, the two that use maple as the table top species will be framed with walnut (1) and Cherry (2).

I'm looking for your suggestions on the best finish choice. Bearing in mind they are restaurant table tops, so they need to withstand some abuse.
 

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#27 ·
Coffee Shop Table Top Project

Some friends of mine run a local Coffee Roasting and Espresso Bar here in my area (Michigan), and they contacted me about building six new table tops for their coffee shop. For the design, we decided to inlay their company logo in each table.
Font Art Logo Symbol Graphics


I'm using Maple, Walnut and Cherry.

I decided to start with making the star.
Wood Line Composite material Engineering Musical instrument accessory


Wood Automotive exterior Composite material Tints and shades Metal


Rectangle Wood Floor Flooring Building


Automotive design Triangle Wood Creative arts Automotive wheel system


Wood Tableware Flooring Floor Line


Wood Floor Automotive tire Gas Bumper


Wood Triangle Fixture Font Symmetry


To save some work, I made just two variations, but made them thick enough so that after the glue up, I could slice them in to multiple stars. I did this carefully on the table saw, using my fence with multiple passes as I rotated the star.

Wood Rim Triangle Star Font


Then the table top blanks.
Wood Engineering Gas Machine Workbench


Wood Toy Flooring Hardwood Metal


Now, I'm an amateur, and perhaps there is a better way to do this, but to inlay the stars, I centered them over the table top, traced them with a knife, and routed out the shape to prepare for the star. I cleaned up the corners with chisels and the knife.
Brown Triangle Wood Tile flooring Rectangle


Table Wood Ruler Rectangle Wood stain


Wood Tool Flooring Rim Bicycle part


It's important that you take your time here to make sure your joint lines are tight, but allow the star to fit inside the recessed area. I got better at this as I went along.
Brown Wood Rectangle Wood stain Beige


Then some passes through my homemade drum sander.

Wood Hardwood Flooring Wood stain Plywood


Wood Wood stain Hardwood Flooring Gas


Next is the lettering.

Wood Font Art Signage Logo


Wood Flooring Hardwood Machine Tool


Wood Font Gas Art Flooring


On the first one,I ran it through drum sander after each letter to level off that which sat proud of the surface. On the rest of the table tops I fit all the letters first, then glued them in all at once, before going to the sander.

Wood Crankset Automotive tire Floor Font


And here are a few with the finished logo.

Brown Wood Font Flooring Wood stain


Brown Wood Triangle Art Font


Brown Triangle Wood Font Art


The final dimensions will be 24" x 24". I plan on wrapping each with a 1 1/2 inch frame/edge in the contrasting color. So, for example, the two that use maple as the table top species will be framed with walnut (1) and Cherry (2).

I'm looking for your suggestions on the best finish choice. Bearing in mind they are restaurant table tops, so they need to withstand some abuse.
Doug - I'll add what everyone else has already said: this is outstanding work, congrats to you!

I've use the poly you picture above on, you guessed it, a few floors in my house. Only advise I'll offer is to not hurry the process of building thickness of finish, especially with the first coat. ie: multiple thin-ish coats is good, and will build up fine from three forward. This minwax poly is excellect stuff, though, so I hope you have good results too. Especially on these incredible tops.
 

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#28 ·
Coffee Shop Table Top Project

Some updated pictures after a coat of BLO.

I used a loose spline inside a dado slot to align and reinforce the frames.

.
Wood Rectangle Font Flooring Material property


Building Wood Road surface Door Shade


Wood Rectangle Hardwood Wood stain Art


And then I used my freshly sharpened jointer plane to clean up the edges.

Watch Wood Artisan Artist Painter


1/8 round over router bit on the edges and corners, followed by lots of sanding. Then a coat of boiled linseed oil. I plan to add at least 3 coats of polyurethane (Minwax- floor grade gloss-see picture in previous blog entry).

Property Wood Lighting Architecture Interior design


Brown Black Wood Flooring Floor


Brown Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor


Wood Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood Flooring


Brown Wood Flooring Font Wood stain
 

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#29 ·
Coffee Shop Table Top Project

Some updated pictures after a coat of BLO.

I used a loose spline inside a dado slot to align and reinforce the frames.

.
Wood Rectangle Font Flooring Material property


Building Wood Road surface Door Shade


Wood Rectangle Hardwood Wood stain Art


And then I used my freshly sharpened jointer plane to clean up the edges.

Watch Wood Artisan Artist Painter


1/8 round over router bit on the edges and corners, followed by lots of sanding. Then a coat of boiled linseed oil. I plan to add at least 3 coats of polyurethane (Minwax- floor grade gloss-see picture in previous blog entry).

Property Wood Lighting Architecture Interior design


Brown Black Wood Flooring Floor


Brown Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor


Wood Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood Flooring


Brown Wood Flooring Font Wood stain
They look fabulous… a lot of work but worth it in the long run… they should be very happy with these…
 

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#36 ·
Completed, Delivered, Installed in Coffee Shop

So I delivered the tabletops tonight to the coffee shop and helped my friend install them. It was very gratifying to see this big project come to a successful end. They seemed genuinely pleased with their purchase.

Now I'm sharing with you, my lumberjock friends.

Brown Table Furniture Wood Chair


Furniture Picture frame Table Chair Wood


Furniture Chair Wood Building Textile


Furniture Table Rectangle Wood Chair


Table Furniture Light Wood Chair


Brown Table Wood Rectangle Wood stain


Brown Table Wood Rectangle Floor


Brown Art Wood Creative arts Triangle
 

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#37 ·
Completed, Delivered, Installed in Coffee Shop

So I delivered the tabletops tonight to the coffee shop and helped my friend install them. It was very gratifying to see this big project come to a successful end. They seemed genuinely pleased with their purchase.

Now I'm sharing with you, my lumberjock friends.

Brown Table Furniture Wood Chair


Furniture Picture frame Table Chair Wood


Furniture Chair Wood Building Textile


Furniture Table Rectangle Wood Chair


Table Furniture Light Wood Chair


Brown Table Wood Rectangle Wood stain


Brown Table Wood Rectangle Floor


Brown Art Wood Creative arts Triangle
They look beautiful. What kind of finish did you finally decide on?
 

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