| Project by Charlie2 | posted 15 days ago | 288 views | 0 times favorited | 14 comments |  |
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When my son, Matt, arrived for his first weekend home from UC Santa Barbara, he announced that he needed some sort of a table for his dorm room. His specs were that it needed to be higher than a traditional coffee table, and bigger than a traditional side table. The kicker was that he wanted to help make it. He wanted to learn woodworking. I was elated.
I have every issue of Woodsmith so we looked at all the tables the index listed. He picked out the table he wanted, and we modified the design to his specs. He picked his Oak (As the pics show, he obviously likes wild grain.), and we began dimensioning the stock and joining pieces for the legs. We worked on it for a few of his infrequent trips home, but the project eventually got sidetracked… for about seven years.
He is now at the University of Delaware, working on a PhD in Chemical Engineering. He’s got his hands full, so I decided to finish it up. Delaware is a long way from California, and I don’t see him woodworking with the old man any time soon. He’ll get it Christmas morning, so then we’ll just have to figure out an affordable way to get it to Delaware.
Construction notes: The top is made from Oak ply with dimensioned stock for the rest. It was joined with biscuits and way too much glue. Glue-up was a nightmare to close all the joints, and I’m sure boats have been built using fewer clamps than I used on this top.
Plans called for the legs and aprons to be half-lapped, but I don’t like half-lap for decent furniture, so I used mortise and loose tenons.
The finish is an embellishment of the five-step finish I’ve seen around for some time. Mine wound up with nine. The photos don’t do the finish justice. It has a depth and richness I have never before achieved with Oak.
I used a penny for the date because my dime-sized Forstner bit is MIA.
-- Many things in this life can be taken from you. Your integrity is not one of them. It's yours until you give it up... Steve, Bakersfield, CA
14 comments so far
griff
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920 posts in 653 days
posted 15 days ago
Beautiful table, He will enjoy it. Very good build.
-- Mike, Bruce Mississippi = Jack of many trades master of none
Beginningwoodworker
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4084 posts in 564 days
posted 15 days ago
Beautiful table.
-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker
matt garcia
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712 posts in 563 days
posted 15 days ago
That’s a beauty!! Great job!!
-- Matt, Houston Texas
woodworm
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8135 posts in 481 days
posted 14 days ago
Nice table and a good learning process for him too!
-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.
ohwoodeye
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82 posts in 44 days
posted 14 days ago
Very nice table. Nice story behind it.
By the way, I have your forstner bit. You borrowed it to me about 6 months ago. I still need it so you can’t have it back just yet.
-- Mike, Waukesha, WI
Dusty56
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3455 posts in 579 days
posted 14 days ago
Nice table and finish !
My question is , where did you find the 2009 penny ? I’ve been to the banks and always ask store cashiers if they have seen any yet….So far , no luck : ( I haven’t even seen one yet this year until now. I always date my projects with the year penny that it was made in .
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/8613
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/10469
-- 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 .
McLeanVA
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144 posts in 325 days
posted 14 days ago
Very nice table. I bet your son will be surprised to see it finished.
I love the penny idea. Never seen it before, but a great addition of personalization. Think of it this way, you were able to shave $.09 off your project budget. There’s always a positive.
-- Measure, cut, curse, repeat.
Charlie2
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6 posts in 284 days
posted 14 days ago
Dusty56 – Finding a current coin is always an issue to me. It was easier for this project because it’s November. I’ve had projects that I finished in January that I just signed and drilled the shallow hole for the coin, adding it when I find one. If the project is a gift, the drilled hole is an ugly incentive for the recipient to bug me to plug in the coin.
It hasn’t happened to me yet, but if the gift winds up a long way from me, I can mail the coin to the recipient, and they should be able to handle epoxying in the coin.
-- Many things in this life can be taken from you. Your integrity is not one of them. It's yours until you give it up... Steve, Bakersfield, CA
a1Jim
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16514 posts in 468 days
posted 14 days ago
Very nice table Steve
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon
wayned
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11 posts in 100 days
posted 12 days ago
For the coins, you might try http://www.usmint.gov/. I enjoy collecting coins and stamps, as well as woodworking, and I’m better at that than woodworking.
-- WayneD
Dusty56
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3455 posts in 579 days
posted 12 days ago
That’s a great site …it will only cost me $7.95 plus S&H for four pennies ! Such a bargain ! LOL Thanks for the link : )
-- 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 .
shopmania
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46 posts in 73 days
posted 11 days ago
Awesome looking table. Hadn’t seen the coin dating method before!
-- Tim, Myrtle Beach, DrTim@ONeillChiro.com- Guys DO like shopping, as long as it's for tools! :)
huff
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1608 posts in 176 days
posted 10 days ago
Great table. The grain in the top is awesome. I love your idea about the penny.
-- John @ Myrtle Beach
hasbeen99
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130 posts in 430 days
posted 9 days ago
“Great table. The grain in the top is awesome. I love your idea about the penny.”
My thoughts exactly. Great job!
-- "The only thing that counts is faith, expressing itself in love." --Galatians 5:6