Oak Coffee Table

I have just completed what is definitely my favorite project to date: a simple coffee table of red oak. The whole construction phase was very enjoyable and only took about a week (though finishing took much longer). I am very proud of how well all the little details turned out in this piece; I can tell my skills are improving.

I got the basic plan from popular woodworking magazine, but I made adjustments of my own. The boards that make up the top and shelf are actually plywood. I was afraid to use solid wood because seasonal wood movement could bust this thing apart at the seams due to its design. But I also didn’t want it to look like plywood, so I cut it into strips and shuffled them around. You can find my previous thread on this topic here. The top and shelf are assembled with battens underneath instead of edge gluing. The legs are screwed into the top and shelf, and I plugged the screw holes with plugs I made with a plug-cutter on the drill press. These turned out awesome – much better looking than cheap store-bought plugs. The aprons are attached with glue and pocket screws.

We wanted a stain with a slightly reddish tone, so I used “Candlelight” by General Finishes. This is a really nice stain to work with. The topcoat is 4 coats of wiped on polyurethane (satin).

To cut the taper at the bottom of the legs, I came up with a simple but accurate taper jig.

It is a single-time use jig, because it is useless once the rip fence is moved, but it only took about 10 minutes to make and gave me beautiful results.

-- Rex