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Walnut coffee table

Project by PeteMoss posted 229 days ago 538 views 3 times favorited 9 comments Add to Favorites Watch

Well, my wife wanted a coffe table and after completing several smaller projects but never an actual piece of furniture I thought why not. She wanted a very plain table, which was good for me. I actually considered trying some breadboard ends, but she didn’t want them. So, what we have is a very simple table made of walnut with regular tapered legs. The aprons are attached with haunched mortise and tenons. The top is simply butt jointed together and attached to the base with wooden buttons set into small mortises in the aprons. The finish is umpteen thousand coats of garnet shellac topped with a coat of wax.

I learned a lot by working on this project. I learned to always get the flattest stock you can find and then buy extra. I had to make two extra trips to the hardwood dealer to finally have enough wood. Although I do have a nice pile of exta walnut in the basement now. I also learned to match the color of the wood as closely as possible while at the lumber dealer. I had to stain the apron material to make it match the legs as close as possible. I built a jig for my plunge router to cut the mortises in the legs. I learned that my plunge router stinks and doesn’t plunge straight up and down but has a slight rock in the plunge actions which can hurt your mortises. I learned that you can’t see a pencil mark on walnut, completely cutting the end off of one of my mortises requiring me to glue a piece back into the leg when the haunch should go.

The one smart thing that I did was to build the taper jig off of antiquesbuiltdaily.com, which worked wonderfully for tapering the legs.

All in all it was a very educational experience and it turned out okay.

-- PeteMoss


9 comments so far

View Dusty56's profile

Dusty56

3392 posts in 566 days


posted 229 days ago

Gorgeous table indeed : )

-- You know you're getting old when you know the difference between you're (you are) and your (belonging to you) AND how to use them in a sentence .

View Peik Löf's profile

Peik Löf

109 posts in 250 days


posted 229 days ago

Beautiful table

-- My signature is awesome.

View Loucarb's profile

Loucarb

901 posts in 323 days


posted 229 days ago

Great looking table and very good craftsmanship. I’ve also learned it doesn’t hurt to own a moisture meter. Thanks for sharing

View CharlieM1958's profile

CharlieM1958

7466 posts in 1096 days


posted 229 days ago

Excellent job…..beautiful table!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

View Bureaucrat's profile

Bureaucrat

6897 posts in 530 days


posted 229 days ago

Congratulations on making your wife happy, life is so much better that way. The table looks very similar to one that my wife bought from an Amish furniture store (she doesn’t have the patience to deal with my work habits). This is a good build, you learned some things, you should be proud.

-- Gary, South Central Wisconsin. So much to learn, so little time!

View ryno101's profile

ryno101

231 posts in 543 days


posted 228 days ago

The day I make something that my wife actually wants to have front and center in the living room is the day I know I’ve arrived as a woodworker… nice job, looks great!

-- Ryno

View Beginningwoodworker's profile

Beginningwoodworker

3857 posts in 551 days


posted 228 days ago

Beautiful coffee table.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

View exodus's profile

exodus

8 posts in 266 days


posted 227 days ago

Nice table, I love the finish!!

View steiner's profile

steiner

133 posts in 228 days


posted 201 days ago

That’s your first piece of furniture? It looks great! I appreciate you sharing what you learned. thanks.

-- Scott - Katy, Texas

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