It all started with a small accent table..
Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 5:22 pm
Boy I didn't know how complicated this project would become. Been working on it pretty solidly for a month or two.
The lady had been asking for a "table" to could cover our Ottoman so as to better support food and drink, mostly drink in my case
She had liked the stain result I had on these small accent tables and wished to mimic the look if possible.
Well- as some of you know-this lead me down the path of first figuring out how to taper legs for this new ottoman table to match the existing accent table, you've seen that on a separate thread.
At this point-we had been in negotiation about exactly what this ottoman tabletop should be capable of doing. Of course-we negotiated ourselves into a project scope that exceeded our capabilities on a number of fronts. We didn't learn from project creep incurred by the tapered leg requirement
1. Table should cover the ottoman
2. Table should "look" like the accent table if possible
3. Table should be able to be split in two and used as separate TV trays on the couch
4. Table split line should be curved-because..well because straight is boring !
So naturally-we started with the table split line curve. The lady made a curve she liked on a 2x4 and cut it...she has a much steadier hand than I.
With this done, I needed to find a way to transfer this 2x4 curve to the Birch Plywood tops. Drawing the curve on the plywood wasn't the issue, but I had to cut the ply in half and place the curve on the edge of the 2 plywood rectangles-so I had enough throat on the bandsaw to follow this curve (I couldn't cut the curve thru the middle of a single half sheet of plywood on the bandsaw).
This worked reasonably well, but realized after cutting these curves, the 2 pieces didn't match up well-there were odd gaps in the curve. Further digging led me to understand the idea of complementary curves and correcting for this using a router and offset bearings to undo the error introduced by the kerf of the cutting itself.
Not a perfect match but pretty close- considering we still had to add veneer/etc.
Doing veneer was also new to us. I had picked up a 100 ft roll of red oak veneer with adhesive that was on the sale shelf. I figured with 100 ft of it, we could figure out how to do 10 ft of it well on the tables !
The curved edges were difficult to work on both the adhesive step as well as the veneer cutting step as the veneer knife I had purchased was unable to follow the curve...so i made a narrow veneer blade jig to allow for the cutting. Some issues and cosmetic defects-but overall good enough for us.
Assembling the underside of the table included using the curve master 2x4 and additional pieces to provide a frame and support for legs. In order for the tables to also be used as TV trays the way we wanted, the legs on 1 side of the table needed to fold in to allow the table to rest on the couch surface.
Final assembly/staining/shellac'ing and light sanding.
Placed over the ottoman with legs folded under-it simply rests on the ottoman surface.
It does free-stand though as well - though i do see that left leg is dangling a bit !
And as TV trays for either end of the couch.
Finally-the real test- did we Mimic the Gold Standard Small Accent table? I think its pretty good !
A long project. I think I learned a few things along the way though.
b
The lady had been asking for a "table" to could cover our Ottoman so as to better support food and drink, mostly drink in my case
She had liked the stain result I had on these small accent tables and wished to mimic the look if possible.
- accent-tables.jpg (123.82 KiB) Viewed 4373 times
At this point-we had been in negotiation about exactly what this ottoman tabletop should be capable of doing. Of course-we negotiated ourselves into a project scope that exceeded our capabilities on a number of fronts. We didn't learn from project creep incurred by the tapered leg requirement
1. Table should cover the ottoman
2. Table should "look" like the accent table if possible
3. Table should be able to be split in two and used as separate TV trays on the couch
4. Table split line should be curved-because..well because straight is boring !
So naturally-we started with the table split line curve. The lady made a curve she liked on a 2x4 and cut it...she has a much steadier hand than I.
- cutting-the-curve.jpg (70.99 KiB) Viewed 4373 times
This worked reasonably well, but realized after cutting these curves, the 2 pieces didn't match up well-there were odd gaps in the curve. Further digging led me to understand the idea of complementary curves and correcting for this using a router and offset bearings to undo the error introduced by the kerf of the cutting itself.
- tabletop-curve1.jpg (86.03 KiB) Viewed 4373 times
- tabletop-curve2.jpg (73.68 KiB) Viewed 4373 times
The curved edges were difficult to work on both the adhesive step as well as the veneer cutting step as the veneer knife I had purchased was unable to follow the curve...so i made a narrow veneer blade jig to allow for the cutting. Some issues and cosmetic defects-but overall good enough for us.
- stain+veneer2.jpg (69.61 KiB) Viewed 4373 times
- unfinished leg fold.jpg (76.82 KiB) Viewed 4373 times
Placed over the ottoman with legs folded under-it simply rests on the ottoman surface.
- finsihed-ottoman.jpg (107 KiB) Viewed 4373 times
- finished-free-standing.jpg (108.94 KiB) Viewed 4373 times
- finshed-on-couch.jpg (111.89 KiB) Viewed 4373 times
- matchup to accent.jpg (100.37 KiB) Viewed 4373 times
A long project. I think I learned a few things along the way though.
b
