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Make the Top
1. Cut the tabletop (A, Fig. A, below), edging pieces (B, C and D) and splines (E, F and G) to size. Shape, fit and attach the edgings to the top as described in “Curved Corner Edging”.
2. Rout the round-over edges and finish-sand the top. Be careful on that veneer—it’s paper thin.
Turn the Legs
3. Mill the leg blanks (H) and cut them 1/2 in. extra long. The extra length is used to hold the leg at the tailstock end of the lathe. You’ll cut it off after the leg is turned.
4. Before you turn the legs, make them hexagonal by chamfering the corners on a bandsaw or tablesaw. Removing the waste gives you a head start on turning squares into cylinders.
5. Mount a leg blank between the centers of your lathe. Turn the blank to a 1-3/4-in.-dia. cylinder with a roughing gouge.
6. Make a leg taper gauge from some MDF scrap (Photo 1; Fig. B, above). Lay out the leg taper and the 1/8-in.-wide parting diameter lines and cut the tapered profile on the bandsaw. Now you have a quick reference gauge for setting your calipers.
7. Turn on the lathe and hold up the gauge to the leg. With a pencil, transfer the parting lines from the gauge to the blank.
8. Use a parting tool and calipers to cut each groove to the proper depth (Photo 2).
9. Rough out the tapered shape of the leg using the bottom of the grooves as a depth guide (Photo 3). Finish shaping the leg using a wide, square nose scraper.
10. Smooth the leg with sandpaper and a sanding block. Part the leg deeply at the bottom. Use a handsaw to remove the bottom waste. Hand-sand the leg with the grain to remove cross-grain scratches.
Assemble the Table
11. Drill 15/64-in. pilot holes in the legs and insert the hanger bolts (Photo 4).
12. Mount the angled leg plates (Fig. A, Det. 1, page 70). You may need to drill shallow relief holes in the underside of the table to accommodate the ends of the hanger bolts.
13. Apply two coats of clear satin varnish to the teak. Let the finish cure, thread the legs into the leg plates and you’re done.
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