Coffee Table

 

 I used so many jigs for this project that I made a jig using another jig. I was determined to complete this as I had designed it which took me some time and challenged me a little more than previous projects. The main idea was to have the top and bottom of the legs disconnected instead of one continuous leg from the table top to the floor. These leg segments are connected by two half circles, ¾” apart, which would allow the lower cross slats to insert between them. I didn’t know if this would be strong enough to hold the weight of the table and anything that might be placed on top. But I thought that the weight pushing straight down on the legs would be trying to push the half circles in toward to center of the table and the lower cross slats would then push out towards the four corners making it structurally sound, I Think?. I believe in school they referred to this as Vector Forces, but that’s too far in the past to recall.

 I made the legs from 1-3/4” by 3-3/4” mahogany and rounded over the top and bottom facing ends. The half circles were made from ¾” mahogany and connected with ¼” thick by 1” wide by 1-1/2” long oak floating tenons which I first learned about from an article in a Fine Woodworking issue. I made a jig to rout the mortise in the end of each piece much like the one in the article except it held the piece at a 45 degree angle to the router. I then made a jig to hold the pieces in places while I strap clamped them and then another jig to hold the glued piece while I routed the inner and outer diameters. Then what I thought was the most challenging was to attach the half circles to the legs, parallel ¾” apart, the same distance from the top and bottom, and this had to be a very strong joint. I wanted to use a mortise and tenon joint but instead made a jig that would clamp the pieces tightly in place while the glue dried and then I drilled through the back of the legs into the ends of each half circles with 3 – 3” long 3/8” oak dowel rods, total of 48, and capped them off with flush plugs.

 The lower cross slats 1-3/4” by 3-3/4” mahogany had to have ¾” wide tenons on both ends to slide in between the half circles on the legs. I cut the tenons and then made another jig to rout the same diameter on the ends as the outer diameter of the circles.

 The Table Top Frame is made out of a 4” wide Mahogany that measures 47” long by 31” wide with a decorative molding underneath all made from 5/4” stock. The Table Top is made from 5/4” Padauk and measures 38-1/4” long by 22-3/8” wide. The 3/8” gap between the Frame and the Table Top allows for expansion and contraction.

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