It's
been a long time since I made a coffee table. This one is for my son,
who recently moved to Sydney. New city, new job. He has found a great
apartment, and has begun to request furniture, first a coffee table
to replace an Ikea piece his girlfriend, Lauren, purchased. I think
that he is playing with fire! No, she's great
It's
a long weekend in a fortnight, and Lynndy and I plan to visit. (We
have family in Sydney, and old friends from when we lived there 30
years ago). My idea was to build a coffee table and take it on the
plane as a sort of surprise (he knows I am building it, but will not
expect it this way). Fun, eh?
So,
I needed a knock-down design. And a design along the lines of Danish
Modern, which would fit in nicely in his home.
I was
taken with a piece by a Japanese maker, Ishitani. He has some great
builds on YouTube which are worth looking up. Inspiration came from
this design
of his
...
The coffee table required two weekends to
complete. That's a nice change from the pieces I've been building.
The wood is Hard Maple. I've grown to like this stuff.
I
made a few changes to the design. Firstly, it is a little slimmer and
larger (I think): 38" long x 28" wide and 16 1/2"
high. Plus a few modifications.
Here's the table
...
To
take this shot I had to crawl on the carpet. Much of the underside is
unlikely to be seen, even at a distance.
Here's
what it looks like underneath. Where Ishitani left his rails
straight, I've added a curve (you know me and curves) ..
The
legs come off for packing flat ...
Join
at the centre ...
Ishitani
connected breadboard ends with a dovetailed spline. I have used a
true drawbored breadboard construction. The weather in Sydney changes
from dry cold in Winter to high humidity in summer. I did not think
that a dovetail would cope with this.
Only
the centre mortice/tenon inn the breadboard is glued and unmovable.
The ends are free to move back-and-forth. They are still pulled tight
against the table top with drawbore pins, however the holes are
slotted to allow for lateral movement. Look closely and you will see
this (the round rasp was used to create the slot) ...
Gotta
show a tool - these were made with a Veritas Jack Rabbet (to balance
the recent post of a power router for the mortices)
...
Another
change is the legs are connected with hex bolts. I really could not
envisage the coffee table living a life with a loose top
..
This
was a very straightforward build. The only slight challenge was the
legs - turning them precisely, and then morticing for the
rails.
The mortices were first cut in the blanks
..
..
and then turned ..
That's
Peter Galpert's caliper on the lathe bed. I really recommend it for
sizing spindles.
The tenons were fitted into the mortice
...
...
and marked out:
..
before being rebated (is that the correct term here?) for the
shoulder ...
And
that was it. Finish was a coat of Livos Universal Wood Oil to add a
little amber to the very light maple. Then 5 coats of General
Finishes water based poly was rubbed on for durability. This adds a
little shine. Looks great.
Can't wait to see Jamie's
face!
Regards
from Perth
Derek
August 2018