Third Living Room Table...

[Jim Frye]

I started this project right after Christmas and have spent the time finalizing the build design and buying wood for the project. Like the two prior tables, the top, shelf and baseboards are hard maple and the rest is soft maple. The overall design will be based on the Broyhill table pictured, but in the style of the first two tables. This is a more complex build than before and I'm still working out some of the joinery. The second picture is of the component parts for the main construction. The stacks of wood laying on the floor are the main ingredients to start with. This table will also have a drawer in the top that the original doesn't have.

[cwsmith]

Very nice project Jim, I look forward to seeing your progression and the final.

I really like your work,

CWS

[Jim Frye]

Very nice project Jim, I look forward to seeing your progression and the final.

I really like your work,

CWS

Aw shucks, thanks.

[capncarl]

Looks like a complicated build! Is the top to be veners or separate sections?

[dbhost]

This should prove an interesting build...

[Jim Frye]

Capncarl: no veneers. everything is solid maple even the secondary parts. The top and the lower shelf will be glued up panels of hard maple like the previous tables. The drawer bottom might be maple ply if I have a piece the right size. Yes, It will weigh a bunch. The coffee table came in at 225 pounds and the just completed two drawer side table rings in at 105 with the full depth drawers.

[capncarl]

Do you weigh all your furniture?
A appreciate a good heavy coffee table, especially one with rounded corners, that way you don’t have to go the emergency room for stitches when you whack it with your shin! …. No, really, that is a good thing!

[Jim Frye]

No, not all of them. When I started working in maple, I discovered how much more the wood mass was. I had been doing things in red oak to match the woodwork in our previous home. I did a 36"Hx24"Wx6"D CD wall hung cabinet in maple I was surprised to find out it weighed 60 pounds. My next maple piece was a 60"Wx84"Hx17"D entertainment cabinet. It was too large to get up the basement steps, so it was assembled and finished in the garage. The components totaled 325 pounds. Probably couldn't have carried it up the steps anyway. The coffee table presented a fairly large object to move from the shop, so the top was attached after moving the carcass into the living room and the drawers inserted. I guess I've just gotten into the habit for these pieces. The next maple piece will be a Regulator style clock case to house the movement from the retirement clock from IBM. I'm guessing a french cleat will be in order.

[capncarl]

The clock sounds like a good project, trying to shoehorn in the retirement clock!

[hazelavery]

This is very nice I like your project. The last time I bought my study table from flexispot discount code the price little bit high but the quality was amazing.

[dbhost]

So this is going to sound a little nerdy here. But since COVID started, we have several extended family members that cannot meet in person due to extreme high risk I.E. transplant patient / diabetics etc... So we opted to "do something" together online. our nephew volunteered us for a particularly popular online video game Final Fantasy XIV. The reason I bring this up is that table is done VERY MUCH in the same design language as the funishings in one of the realms in the game. If anyone else here plays, I am talking about Coerthas in the various outposts. Always with those round corner embellishments with the pillars.

Anyway, I love the look and wondered how hard it would be to make something like that...

So to be honest, I am watching this out of self interest...

[Jim Frye]

The table pictured above was one of three Broyhill tables we ordered from a local furniture store. After waiting months for delivery, we learned they were made in China and constructed from a soft wood akin to poplar. Broyhiil called the line by some tropical sounding name. I can't find them online. The coffee table was a bombe style that looked like it had four drawers, but actually only had three. The other side table had two drawers with a top that was shaped somewhat like the open table above. I suspect the four posts in the Broyhill table were CNC machined.

[Jim Frye]

Just a quick update on this table. I completed the machining of the corner posts. The posts are built up from three 4/4 pieces then resawn to final size (2 1/4" x 2 1/4"). The entire table is built around them, so I set up the BT3K with the Freud Super Dado to do the cuts. I thought this might simplify setting up the various cuts. The challenge was that each post has the cuts in different orientation, so I had to keep my feeble wits about me for each post. The veining was done on the BT3K's router table with the old Ryobi R700 plunge router installed. I discovered that the core box bit I was using had gone dull and I no longer can hone it with my diamond stones. The bit left fuzz in nearly all of the cuts. Not complaining, it was one of the first router bits I ever bought in 1993 from Trend Lines. They were not very high quality carbide bits, but my budget back then was limited.

[Jim Frye]

Update: Have nearly finished the two side assemblies. These will be joined by the back and front pieces to form the basic structure. Internal pieces will be added to support the lower shelf, top, and drawer slides. Even though the drawer will be rather shallow at 4", I'm still going to use full extension slides. The pictures show how I do each join and the jigs to keep things square and aligned. Note the gauge strip at the top of the lower picture. It's used to ensure that the the frames are square top to bottom.

[leehljp]

Did you make the legs? If so, what did you use to make them - Router? Shaper?

Looking great!

[Jim Frye]

Did you make the legs? If so, what did you use to make them - Router? Shaper?

The posts were glued up as three layers of 4/4 stock from the same wide board. Then they were ripped to 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" square. The shaping was all done on the router table attached to the BT3000 saw with the shop made fence from the middle '90s. I used two bits: a 1/4 round over and a 1/4" core box.

[Jim Frye]

Update: The basic structure (can't call it a carcass) is done. I am somewhat surprised it came out square and plumb due to all of the separate parts that are in it. The original is constructed completely different, with the feet and posts being screwed into the lower shelf and the upper aprons mortised into the posts. I'm pretty sure the original's posts are CNC machined. Next will be the lower structure to support the lower shelf.

[Jim Frye]

A bit of a teaser update. This project is progressing nicely thirty minutes at a time it seems. My daily schedule only gives me a few time slots a day to spend time in the shop. I go into the shop, cut and fit one piece, and glue it into place. In the past, I've logged the number of hours spent making and finishing a piece. I've weighed the finished pieces. This time, due to the complexity of the project, I've kept track of the number of pieces that are going into its construction. When done, it looks like this table will be made up of 80 separate pieces of wood cut and fitted into place. Yeah, I know it's nuts, but being retired leads to strange behavior.