Coffee Table: 1st Wedding Anniversery Gift

Found this picture, over the weekend…Turns out this was my “second” attempt at a piece of furniture. The first was a footstool I built in my 9th grade shop class…I seem to remember getting a “B” on that project, however my Mom still has (and uses it) so I guess that one turned out OK…

This was built from a plan my wife Elaine found in a Southern Living magazine…I guess she didn’t really expect me to built it since we were living in an Apartment in Va Beach and I had NO SHOP, yet. I was on Active Duty (Navy). The ship I was stationed on, USS Saipan actually had a small wood shop – but at least I had access to a table saw, drill press, and a portable planer…

I brought my “lumber” in and did the rough cuts, after hours on a couple of my “duty days”...took all the pieces home and sanded, assembled, and finished it out on the small second floor deck…Guess my glue joints, dowels and mortise and tenon (for the brace connecting the legs were OK….as this table is now 30 plus years old and going strong…

Made it thru three moves, numerous spilled drinks, and even a few cat scratches…NO exotic woods, just plane old construction grade pine boards…

-- Mike