Staked Coffee Table (Based On Adb Work Table)

craftingwood Jul 20, 2017

This is a small staked coffee table designed to fit in a small apartment. It is 3ft x 2 ft x ~20in. I made it high to be more comfortable to eat or work at, but this makes it too high to be comfortable putting your feet upon. The goal was to minimize cost while still being plenty sturdy and nice; total cost was about $60. It is mostly made of poplar and the finish is an acrylic paint that I have left over from a friend's now redone kitchen. I'd have preferred milk paint, but the goal was to minimize cost on this piece. The drawer and runners are some scrap I had around - mostly poplar with walnut runners. The knob was recovered from a piece by a dumpster.

Photo of Staked Coffee Table (Based On Adb Work Table)

Final piece. Only hand tools were used except for the electric drill. Oike the electric drill for holes where I don't care about the holes being vertical, like nail pilot holes, and for big holes, like the 1-3/8" holes for the leg tenons done with a forstner bit. I wasn't sure about using a forstner bit at an angle but it worked fine. I started vertical then tipped down to my angle; it did gougeone edge more than necesary due to rotating it down, but that was hidden by the leg.

Pro tip: your sightline needs to point towards the center of the board, not the way you want the leg to point. Somehow I messed this up on the third hole. Easy fix though: turn a plug, glue it in, try again.

Cutting out wedges. Always cut some extra

Glueing the legs in. This was my first time turning table legs; a straight taper that long was harder than I expected.

Notice the grain orientation. The leg will swell and contract into the end grain of the batten and the wedge drives the sides into the end grain. If the leg or wedge were the other way, they would risk splitting the batten.

Table glued up. I level the table using wedges and then mark the legs all round at a consistent height off the bench to ensure the final leg bottoms are coplaner.

Underside.

Edge profile. I gave the edge an underbevel to lighten the look a bit. It tucks the front of the battens under the edge a bit.

My apprentice was helping trim the legs to length.

Sonce this is a crossgrain joint, only the front is glued. The back screw hole is elongated to allow for movement.The battens were the same way.

Gluing depth stops on the draw runners. The drawer runners were scraps I had around that were already milled. Hence using walnut and then painting it. The runners are glued to the drops and held in place with cut clout nails.

Not in my usual fashion, I used plywood for the drawer bottom since 1) the recipient wouldn't know the difference, 2) it was fast,and 3) I had some that I wanted to get rid of. Otherwise it is a standard dovetailed drawer.