I set out to make two coffee tables. To make it easier on a perspective buyer, I wanted to make the tables easy to transport and assemble. If it came down to it, I could even ship the tables in a low profile crate or box.

Finished Photo

YouTube Video (PT 1)

Plan and Overall Dimensions

Here is my initial plan for the table. Some of the dimensions changed as I got into the project. The overall table is 52″ long X 26″ wide and a little below 18″ tall

Rough Cuts, Milling, Laminating, Milling

As with all of the projects, it started with laying out my pieces and cutting everything to rough size. Then I started milling the table top pieces to give them time to acclimate. Then I moved onto milling and laminating the table base pieces. I started with 6/4 Ash for the base and laminated two pieces to yield about 2.5″ thick pieces after all the milling, laminating and milling were complete.

Cutting to Size, Mortise and Tenons

The Leg assemblies of the trestle style coffee table will be joined by large mortises. So I began cutting all my leg assembly pieces to their final width and length accounting for the tenon size. From this point I could lay out the mortises on the upper and lower horizontal pieces of the leg assemblies. They are identical, so it goes quick. For these large mortises, I like to remove a bulk of the waste with a forstner bit in my drill press. Then I use a chisel to remove some of the waste and a router and jig to finish the mortise up.

After the mortises are cut, it is time to cut the tenons. I used a combination of table saw, bandsaw and router table to accomplish this. Table saw for the shoulder cut, bandsaw for waste removal and router table for final cheek cutting. Some had to be touched up with a shoulder plane, but most fit well off the router table after rounding the corners.

YouTube Video (PT 2)

Shaping

The horizontal pieces and vertical pieces of the leg assemblies needed some simple shaping. I started with some pieces of 1/4 plywood cut to the same rectangular shape(s) and started drawing curves that I liked. After erasing a bunch, I found some I liked, I cut them on bandsaw and sanded them on the belt/spindle sander. Then I transferred the layout lines to the actual work pieces. I cut the pieces out and sanded them to their line.

Gluing and Dovetails

I added a large counterbore on one corner of each table for a leveling foot. Then I glued up the leg assemblies and let them dry. After they came out of the clamps I sanded everything flush and began working the dovetail connections for the upper rails. I began by laying out the dovetail angle I wanted (randomly) with a bevel gauge after figuring out how much dovetail length I would have. Then I cut the rails to final length and also cut the dovetails out. I added a small shoulder cut on the underside of the dovetail. Then I clamped my rails to my leg assemblies and marked out the area for the dovetail socket. Forstnet bit and router bit took care of the waste and a chisel dialed it in.

After I had a good fit, I marked each dovetail and socket with a number, so they went back into the same location.

Dovetail Bolt

In order for this table to be disassembled and transported, I needed a strong and simple way to attach the dovetail to the leg assemblies. So I started by purchasing some ‘connecting bolts’ which have a large flat head and 1/4-20 threads. I counterbored a hole in the dovetail so the head would be below the surface. Then drilled a thru-hole. I could transfer that hole location to the leg assembly and drill out for a 1/4-20 threaded insert.

Finishing Touches before Paint

I needed to add some method to fasten the table top to the base. So I created 4 slots in each rail to allow for seasonal movement. The slots were counterbored with a forstner bit (first), so the screw head would sit below the surface. I also added one groove in each leg assembly that would get a z-clip. The bottom edges of the rails received a heavy chamfer for knees and shins. Finally I had to ad chamfers to edges, round some corners, and sand, wet to raise grain, sand again.

Prime/Paint

I thoroughly vacuumed the parts and wiped them mineral spirits. From there I rolled/brushed on a coat of primer. Once the primer dried I sanded it. I have been on the hunt for a good primer that sands nicely and doesn’t cost an arm and leg. So, on this project I tried Zinser 123, but it doesn’t sand well, it rolls up like latex paint. On the plus side, it is pretty thin and penetrates well. I only added one coat of primer due to this and started on my Top Coat (BM Advance – satin white). I applied 2 or 3 coats, I can’t recall how many at this point. Each coat received a 320 sand except for the last.

Table Tops

The table tops were the first thing I milled and now I was able to finally get back to them. I didn’t mention it above, but I glued up the table tops before I started the mortise and tenons on the leg assemblies. So the tops have been sitting out of the clamps for a while. As I was letting the paint dry I took the opportunity to fill some pin holes and knot voids with tinted epoxy.

Once the epoxy dried, I hit it with some heat and scraped it off. Then used a card scraped and sander to knock them flush. I was able to use my new drum sander on this large tops which was great. I started with 80 and worked my way up to 220. I did have to make some adjustments to the conveyor height due to it leaving an edge, but that was it.

I cut the top to final size and did some more hand sanding, wetting, hand sanding and I was ready for finish

Finishing

Previously when paint was drying I also took the time to make some stain and color samples. The finishing process is always the most nerve wracking for me. It seems so easy to screw up the entire project. I decided to use some dye, diluted in water, to darken the wood. I could have tried alcohol here so I wouldn’t have raised the grain so much, but I was worried it would dry too fast and I would get bad lap marks.

Then, I wanted to make the grain and figure stand out. Oil is the best at that, so I added two coats of Danish oil within an hour or so.

I wiped off all the excess oil and then wiped off any remaining oil once per day for the next 4 days. I wanted to make sure the surface was free of oil and it was fully cured before adding poly.

I sprayed 4 coats of water based (yes water based) poly in total over a couple days. The first one was so thin, it probably didn’t count. Looking back I could have rolled and brushed these as well. Finally I added some paste wax after letting the poly cure for a a day.

Top Meets Base

Now it was finally time to join the top and base. Since my intention is teh top and base would be assembled/disassembled, I wanted to add some indexing pins, so the top and base were always aligned. I added a 1/4 dowel to each leg assembly. The top received a hole on one end and a slot on the other end to allow for any movement. I also marked with table went with which base/end by two little depressed dots you see by the dowel. 1 dot, 2 dots, 3 dots, 4 dots. I used some dowel center to help locate the positions on the table top.

Finished Up

Here is how I envision this could be packed up for shipping. Super compact.