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WalnutCoffeeTable1.pdf
I've been hoarding some huge, air-dried walnut boards for over twenty years, waiting for the right projects to come around. This small coffee table was the perfect opportunity to finally cut one open and get my hands on the rich figure inside.
There's something that pleases a woodworker's soul when you make a whole project from just one board. It's really satisfying to study a big plank with all its problems, such as knots, sapwood and runout grain, and figure out how you're going to cut it into smaller pieces (Photo 1). Thick, large boards are a luxury, though. You can certainly make this table from separate boards instead, using standard 1 and 2- in. thick wood. See Figure A and Cutting List.
MAKE THE TOP
1) Resaw boards for the top (A) (Photo 2). Cut them 3/4 in. thick, then joint and plane the boards ½ in. thick (Photo 3). Glue the top together and cut it to exact size.
2) Rout two dovetailed grooves across the bottom of the top (Fig. B and Photo 4). First, install a 1/2-in. wide dovetail bit and a 1/2-in. dia. template guide in your router. Next, build a jig composed of four pieces to guide the router. Use 1/2-in. thick material. Assemble the jig using two 5/8-in. thick spacers to fix the distance between the rails. The router's bit and template guide setup makes a groove that's exactly the same width as the distance between the jig's rails.
DOVETAILED CLEATS
3) Make cleats (E) from a stiff hardwood that resists splitting. Maple is ideal. Make one or two extra pieces to test your router-table settings.
4) Shape the cleat's dovetailed key on the router table (Photo 5). Set the height of the router bit so that the key is a paper-thickness shallower than the grooves in the tabletop. (You don't want the cleat to drag against the bottom of these grooves when you insert it.) Adjust the router table's fence until the cleat fits right (Photo 6). Remove the cleats from the table.
5) Finish the top by drawing a shallow curve along both of its long sides (Fig. D). Bend a 3-ft. long stick to form the curve. Cut the curve using a jigsaw or bandsaw. Round over the bottom edge of the top using a router (Fig. B). Use a smaller roundover bit on the top's upper edge. Use a file to soften the top's four corners.
SHAPE THE LEGS
6) Make a pattern for the legs (D) from 1/4-in. thick wood (Fig. G). Mill leg blanks and trace around the pattern on two adjoining sides (Photo 7).
7) Mill mortises before bandsawing the legs. Begin by routing grooves for the tenon's haunch (Fig. E, Photo 8). Deepen the mortises with a mortising machine (Photo 9).
8) Cut the legs on the Bandsaw (Photo 10). Saw one side first, then turn the leg 90 degrees. Lay the pattern on the leg and mark the portion of the curve that was removed by sawing. Saw the other side.
9) Hold the leg between dogs on a workbench in order to smooth the bandsawn surfaces. Begin by planing 4- 6 in. of the upper end of each leg's outer face (Photo 11). File or cut a 1/8- in. wide chamfer all around the leg's foot as you work on each face.
10) Smooth the lower half of the leg's outside face using a spokeshave (Photo 12). You won't be able to get down into the lowest section of the curve, however. I use a scraper-shave to smooth this area, but you could use a file or coarse sandpaper wrapped around a convex block.
11) Smooth the leg's inside faces. Mark the point where the curve starts (Fig. G). Begin forming the convex surface below this point with a smoothing plane. Don't plane the upper part of the leg, where the mortise is. That section must remain flat and square to make a tight joint with the rail. Use a spokeshave on the leg's lower half.
12) Round over the legs' outside corners using a router and roundover bit (Fig. E, Photo 13).
MAKE THE RAILS
13) Mill the rails (C and D) as square stock. You'll taper their front edges later on. Cut the rails' tenons using the tablesaw and a dado set. Hold the rails against a sub-fence attached to a miter gauge. Clamp a stop block to the miter gauge to set the tenon's length. Note that the tenons are offset, relative to the rail's thickness (Fig. E). Raise the dado set to cut all the outside faces first, then lower the blade to cut the inside faces.
14) Cut haunches on the tenons with a bandsaw. Use the same method to rip the lower half of the tenon. Crosscut this piece with the bandsaw, too, but cut 1/32 in. away from the tenon's shoulder. Use a chisel to pare the shoulder.
15) Taper the outside faces of all four rails (Photo 14). Assemble two legs and a rail without glue. Plane the rail more or less flush with the legs.
16) Round over the lower edge of all the rails (Fig. F).
17) Layout and cut decorative notches and holes in the long rails
(Fig. F). Rout slots for the tabletop hold-downs (F) inside the long rails (Fig. E) using a plunge router and a fence.
ASSEMBLE THE TABLE
18) Glue the short rails to the legs. Lay the assembly on your bench and scrape and sand the rails until they're absolutely flush with the legs (Photo 15). Glue the rest of the table together and scrape and sand the long rails flush with the legs.
19) Make corner blocks (H) and glue them into each corner of the base. There's no need for clamps; just apply a thin film of glue to each block and rub it up and down in position until it sticks.
20) Fasten the top to the base. Make hold-downs (F) and drill and countersink screw holes in them. Turn the top upside down and slide in the cleats. Place the base on the top and fasten the hold-downs to the cleats (Photo 16).
21) Make keys (G) to fit in the grooves (Photo 18). Use the same router table setup you used to make the cleats. Glue the keys in the grooves. The front edge of each key should be even with the table's edge. There should be a 1/8-in. gap between the key and the rail so the top can contract in a dry season.
22) Disassemble the table to finish it. Sand all the parts to 150 grit and brush on three coats of satin varnish.
Figure A -Enlarge
Fig. E - Enlarge
Fig. F - Enlarge
Fig. G - Enlarge
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