I set out to build a coffee table that will be a second piece for a white oak living room set. The table will be a 36″ circle and have a lower circular shelf for storage.

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Materials and Plan

The table will be built from solid white oak and will be pretty simple in construction. The table will have 4 legs and cross braces to support the heavy table tops. The joinery will be a combination of half laps and dominoes.

At this stage it is critical to find the best color matching pieces for the table tops and also the legs since they will be most visible.

Table Top Clamp and Cut

After milling and ripping the lumber it is time to clamp up the pieces that make up the table tops and then cut out a circle. The top was glued up in two halves first and then clamped together as a larger piece

I used a circle cutting jig, a sawzall, and a flush trim bit to create the circular top.

The lower shelf is two halves that will remain separate until final assembly due to getting them into place (through the legs)

Legs and Support Braces

I started by creating the supporting braces with half lap joints. I didn’t love the way the half laps turned out, so I reinforced with dominoes and a center screw to keep it all tight. The legs and support braces received a bunch of domino mortises and roundovers.