Thread: Glass Top Coffee Table - WIP

I've been dreading making the splined mitre joints for the top frame. Mitres and I don't get on and a slight inaccuracy in angle here or there will lead to gaps on the corners of this very visible part of this project. Nothing for it than to plough on though!

As posted earlier I used standard 19 x 90 mm Victorian Ash stock. The 15 degree bevel was cut using a small table saw (the bevel width turns out to be 25 mm). The 30 mm rebate on the frame that takes the glass was made using a router fitted with a 20 mm straight bit. The same router and a 4 mm slotting bit was used to cut the slots of the hidden splines. This in fact turned out to be a very fiddly part of the job. I don’t have any precision tools, so cutting the spline slots and the splines themselves turned out to be quite a chore which involved measuring and re-measuring and cutting trials and so on.
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I dry assembled everything and sure enough there were gaps – turns out that the compound mitre saw that I borrowed from a friend for this job is not quite right.
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I fine-tuned the cuts by putting a bit of folded paper at one end of the fence and trimming. Several dry assemblies later and these are the results. Three of the corners are almost perfect, one has a slight gap that I hope will close up on assembly… if not, there is always putty I guess (I did the best I can).
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Now the table top frame is ready for gluing. I decided against staining before assembling in case I need to sand any little steps left on the mitre joints. I will sand before gluing and then sand again before staining.

Coming along nicely!!

Neat solution for the mitres not meeting!

I use a hand held belt sander great for sweetening mitres. The purists would call for a sharp plane.... but the belt sander knows exactly how big a "poofteenth" is. Take your time and enjoy the experience

do the plans call for toughened glass as you dont want to drop anything on it and break it

Originally Posted by ninpoman

do the plans call for toughened glass as you dont want to drop anything on it and break it

No... and the glazier did not recommend it... Please don't jinx me I wouldn't care so much about the glass as someone getting hurt... I thought that all glass is tempered these days - I might just check with the glazier just in case.

i know you have to ask in qld
if you told them it was for a coffee table maybe they did toughen it

All rails, stretchers and spindles cut to size, and all of the tenons are shaped now. I've learnt from experience that all lengths must be accurate so that there will be no gaps upon assembly, So !I have taken greater care than in previous jobs.

As I was cutting the tenons I used the usual rule of thumb of making them 1/3 of the with of the stock - this is also what is indicated in the plans . This leads to tenons that look rather thin to me. Does anyone one know the reason for the rule of thumb? it seems to reduce the amount of timber at the joint a lot and making the tenon 1/2 as wide as the stock makes a bit more sense to me... especially if the mortices are to be cut on wider stock. Perhaps its a practice that has been passed down and no one has ever questioned.

Not much to say about technique for cutting the tenons. I have a cheap little table saw - hard to set up precisely but I put a good blade on it so patience gets good results.

Next are the Mortices on the legs and the the rails. The plans call for making a 'comb' which is then glued into a routed channel on the rail. I have done this before, but I think this may be just as much hassle as cutting the mortices for the spindles individually. Anyway, I will soon find out

Oh I forgot to say about the taper on the legs. I tried a jig on the bandsaw [the table saw is too small] and it was a disaster. I ruined several legs before I found that I could do a credible job by just drawing the cutting lines on the leg and tracing it with the saw.... Then finishing with a block plane.

Will post pictures of all this soon.

So this is the result of a "dry run" assembly. The tenons fit snugly enough into the mortices that everything stays together without wobbling. I take that as a sign that my care about being precise (a challenge I set myself for this project) has paid dividends... also the gaps found in my early projects are not evident in this one...

I have glued up a bottom shelf, which is ready for fitting, but fine sanding first, then staining, then gluing up then three coats of clear urethane (can't use oil - this needs to match a Morris chair I made earlier). Finally a cup of coffee, I guess!

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Lookin' good.

Cheers

Very nice work - an elegant table.

that Is looking really good!!

Well, it took a while... but I am very pleased with this one.

The finish is Wattyl's Teak stain and Wattyl's Estapol Satin polyurethane (wanted to match the chair and ottoman that I made earlier - also in the pictures). I have changed a few things compared to the plans (have a look at the previous posts). One chnage that I have no said anything about yet is that I decided not to make the mortices for the styles in the way that they suggested in the plans. There is a lot of them (36) but they are tiny - 10x10x5 deep - so a 10 mm drill and a sharp 10 mm chisel made short work of these.

I will take a bit of a break from woodwork and then get to work on a few back orders: another entertainment unit, desks, and I want to get rid of that IKEA wall unit behind the chair in the pictures below. These jobs will keep me busy (and poor) for years!

Hope you enjoy the pictures...

Jorge

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Has come up a treat Jorge, certainly worth the wait.

Looks fantastic.

Steven.

It did take a little while but that's what makes it a hobby no rush to get things done quickly. Has come up looking very nice.