[chuckgray]

Okay, I finished the coffee table for my son that I've been working on for the past month or so. The table is 36" x 50" which presented me with a few challenges just due to the large size. I ended up pocket holing the top to the sides and I then just screwed the bottom to the sides. My next project is to build an end table of the same design. The table is solid walnut. I don't have a picture of the drawers but they are maple with walnut fronts.

The bottom picture is before rounding over the edges and applying the finish (it also gives you some insight as to how nice and orderly my garage/shop is :laugh. At this stage in the picture, the base is not yet attached to the table. I used a slot cutter to cut mounting slots in the base frame for attaching the base to the table using clips. It would have been easier if I had cut the slots prior to assembling the base but unfortunately I don't always think that far in advance. The base is made of gluing 3/4" thick pieces together to form 1-1/2" beams. The legs are formed by gluing 3/4" pieces together to form 2-1/4" legs which I then tapered.

 

[honesttjohn]

Great piece !!!!!

 

[Pounamu]

Very nice, Chuck. Love the woodgrain. And your shop is how all shops should be - functional and not just for show.

 

[hawkeye10]

Very nice. Thanks for posting Chuck.

 

[Stick486]

ewwwww...
I like that a lpt...

 

[DesertRatTom]

I really like that table, and the tapered short legs really set it off nicely.

 

[woodworker47]

Chuck,

Really like the table, especially the walnut. Cannot wait to see the end tables. Good job.

Frank

 

[bryansong]

Nice job Chuck, that's a pretty piece.

 

[wileyboy]

What a great looking table

 

[Shop guy]

Very nicely done. Can’t beat walnut for furniture.

 

[MT Stringer]

Good job, Chuck. You would feel right at home working in my shop!:surprise::grin:

 

[TenGees]

I agree with the others... nice table, wood and finish, Chuck.

 

[JFPNCM]

Certainly agree with all the above, very well done. What finish was used?

 

[chuckgray]

Certainly agree with all the above, very well done. What finish was used?

Thank you Jon. I applied 6 coats of wipe-on satin poly. Very lightly sanded first and second coats with dry 220 and the successive coats with water and 400. I applied Minwax furniture polish after the last coat.

Note: I actually finished the top twice. The first time, I applied the final wax using 0000 wool which was a big mistake. I think I burned through the finish because I got some white swirls in the finish that wouldn't buff out. After doing some research, I believe what I got were "witness" lines. They weren't really noticeable unless you looked at the surface with the light reflecting off it just right. Anyways, I ended up sanding the top down to bare wood and going through the whole process a second time but not using 0000 wool when I applied the wax.

 

[RainMan 2.0]

Looks awesome Chuck Love the finish, wow !

I only wish there was a build thread ,so noobs like me can see the steps

 

[old coasty]

Really Great Job Chuck.

 

[chuckgray]

Looks awesome Chuck Love the finish, wow !

I only wish there was a build thread ,so noobs like me can see the steps

Thanks Rick. I know what you mean by wishing there was a build thread. I really enjoy watching them and I learn a lot from them. Having said that though, I don't have the equipment nor do I have the patience to do a proper editing job which is very important to the success of the video. Many of the You-tubers that I regularly watch spend many times more hours editing than actually building the project. It would take me many many hours just to learn how to use the editing software. I would rather spend my time working on projects which is more enjoyable for me.

 

[JFPNCM]

@chuckgray

Chuck: Appreciate the details on the finish and word of caution on the final finish. Always a lesson to learn.

Keep up the great posts.

 

[honesttjohn]

Thanks Rick. I know what you mean by wishing there was a build thread. I really enjoy watching them and I learn a lot from them. Having said that though, I don't have the equipment nor do I have the patience to do a proper editing job which is very important to the success of the video. Many of the You-tubers that I regularly watch spend many times more hours editing than actually building the project. It would take me many many hours just to learn how to use the editing software. I would rather spend my time working on projects which is more enjoyable for me.

That's why you can just take a few pics along the way.

 

[chuckgray]

That's why you can just take a few pics along the way.

That's true John and I do have a couple of pictures that I took. I didn't include them because I didn't think they would be very useful to anyone. The two pictures show the build up of the side panels. I needed two pieces ~38" long by 5.5" high with the grain running in the direction of the short dimension. The first picture shows the cutting of the biscuit slots. The second picture shows the gluing up of the first two pieces. More pieces, which you can see in the background, are added until the final width is about 40". This gives me one piece 40" by about 14". I cut that into two pieces 40" by 7". After sanding, I then cut them to their final dimensions. The wet spots you see in the second picture are from the damp rag I used for wiping off excess glue. I used this same process for making the top and bottom surfaces of the table. I'll try to include more and better pictures with my future projects.