Help with designing/making a coffee table...

[Vikash]

I'm looking to make a fairly large coffee table (about 1.4m square) as I can't quite find what I want from any furniture shops. I have some basic tools including table saw, router, pillar drill, but I've only ever worked with relatively thin ply/mdf in my projects, and never joined timber etc.

The design idea is basically two identical slabs for the top and bottom (~50mm thick), spaced apart with 4 joists at the corners (~300mm high) - a simple design.

Does anyone know of any good timber suppliers in Milton Keynes? Is it feasible to purchase timber and simple butt them together with glue to make the table?

I also brielfy considered using some oak kitchen worktops on ebay but any other ideas or input would be appreciated.

Vikash

 

[John McM]

Hi Vikash,

May not seem like much help at first glance but if I were you I'd join Finewoodworking. It costs about £17 a year for a vast electronic resource of everything woodworking. Knowledge saves a lot of wasted money and time.

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ ... index.aspx

Good luck

 

[ByronBlack]

Hi Vikash,

A project with the timber sizes you mention would be better joined using something like mortice and tenon joints, or at a push re-inforced butt joints (improved with dowels or biscuits).

Have a look in the competition forum and look at 'seanybabys' chunky coffee table, that should give you an idea or two. He used some hefty dovetail joints and the effect is fantastic.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[mister henderson]

Does anyone know of any good timber suppliers in Milton Keynes? Is it feasible to purchase timber and simple butt them together with glue to make the table?

Yes it is, as long as you get good straight edges at right angles to the faces, and have a means of pressing the pieces together while the glue sets, such as a Plano cramp

One problem is that if you don't have such a press it will be difficult to keep the pieces from sliding out of alignment while clamping, so you would need to think in terms of biscuits etc to preserve the alignment

A top 1.4 metres wide is going to have serious expansion/contractions issues, and the chances of keeping it relatively flat are virtually zero. I think you need to consider something like veneered MDF for the top, with solid wood edging of the same (or contrasting) species. Several coats of matt or satin acrylic varnish (water based) will keep it looking good

 

[Harbo]

Difficult to comment without seeing your plans but it seems like an awful waste of wood unless you are trying to cover a hole in your carpet? :lol:

2 thicknessess of 2" wood etc. will make a very heavy table.

As others have said you will have to joint the wood which will involve a P/T or a long jointer plane like a No. 7, a biscuiter and some sash cramps?

Sorry to be critical but cannot envisage it my mind looking good?

Rod :?

 

[Vikash]

Thanks to all for your input.

Not wanting to waste my time and expensive wood, I decided to get the hard part done by pro jointers. I had a 1.4m square table top made from 2" thick Bubinga with various sized laminations. It still requires finishing (will be Danish oiled) and a support structure to be made (currently sitting on a carboard box) which are things I *can* do competantly

Here's some pics:

Vikash

 

[Woodmagnet]

That looks very nice Vikash. :wink:

 

[PowerTool]

Impressive - and complements it's surroundings beautifully,as well

Andrew

 

[dickm]

Does anyone know of any good timber suppliers in Milton Keynes?

In a word, NO. That's why I moved away from there
Seriously, there is Good Timber up the A5 beyond Towcester (who seem to get quite a lot of recommendations on the forum), a chap in Aspley Guise whose name I forget and there used to be a supplier of limited stocks of very good timber off Castle Road in Bedford. But otherwise, just the multiples.

 

[richburrow]

That looks really good / what a fantastic finish 8)

 

[BradNaylor]

That's a lovely table top, Vikash.

I wouldn't wait too long to build the base, though. Now you've got the top in your centrally heated house it's going to dry out considerably and start to move. Within a few weeks it could well be cupped like a banana.

At the very least screw (not glue) some bracing battens to the underside across the grain. Make slotted holes in the battens so that the wood can shrink across the grain. Otherwise it will almost certainlt split.

With a bit of luck this will hold the table top fairly flat.

Beautiful as solid wood looks, in this situation I would alwys use MDF to eliminate all these problems and veneer it.

Cheers
Dan

 

[woodbloke]

Nice looking table top and excellent advice from Dan. You may well find that it will twist and warp out of shape in a very short time unless a supporting framework is made to 'contain' the movement - Rob

 

[Vikash]

Thanks for the comments. I had Good Timber make the top and was impressed with it - initially.

But now I've had it for four days and it's already splitting at the joints (only discernible at close range atm) and this morning I've just noticed that it's beginning to cup across the grain of the board. About 10mm across the 1.4m width.

I'm not a happy bunny atm. Should I move it into the (unheated) conservatory or garage to reduce any further warping/splitting?

I was thinking of running down to B&Q, following Dan's advice, to look for some kind of metal brace/rails (3 or more) and attach it across the grain. Will it be ok when screwing the brace to force the top back into shape?

I hope this is not going to be £500 down the drain!

Vikash

 

[White House Workshop]

Turn it over for a while. You may be getting uneven drying out where the top is drying faster than the underneath. I had this once with a tabletop I made for a customer - she phoned frantically after a week to say it had bowed by almost 2"! Turning it over for 5 days had it as flat as a pancake again - it just needed to acclimatise.

 

[eggflan]

Thanks for the comments. I had Good Timber make the top and was impressed with it - initially.

But now I've had it for four days and it's already splitting at the joints (only discernible at close range atm) and this morning I've just noticed that it's beginning to cup across the grain of the board. About 10mm across the 1.4m width.

I'm not a happy bunny atm. Should I move it into the (unheated) conservatory or garage to reduce any further warping/splitting?

I was thinking of running down to B&Q, following Dan's advice, to look for some kind of metal brace/rails (3 or more) and attach it across the grain. Will it be ok when screwing the brace to force the top back into shape?

I hope this is not going to be £500 down the drain!

Vikash

£500 :shock: :shock: :shock: OUCH :!: :!:

I hope it dont get any worse than it is

 

[Vikash]

Ok thanks, the missus and I have turned it over - that thing is heavy!

I had no one available to phone frantically, but at least this forum is here!

On a related note, is it possible for the end boards to split off under it's own weight if not supported with legs?

Vikash

 

[eggflan]

Ok thanks, the missus and I have turned it over - that thing is heavy!

I had no one available to phone frantically, but at least this forum is here!

On a related note, is it possible for the end boards to split off under it's own weight if not supported with legs?

Vikash

That depends on how well they have been joined , if it cracks along the joint they may well come apart , but glue is so strong these days that the timber should go before the glue ,, that is presuming they put pleanty of glue in , do you know what type of fixing they have used ? dowell,buiscuit or just butted up and clamped :?:

 

[Vikash]

No, I can't say I know what method they used to join the boards.

 

[MrJay]

I'd expect the joints to go at the very edges, but hold firm in the middle of the boards. I wouldn't sit with your toes under the table just in case. :twisted:

Dowels and biscuits don't serve much structural purpose at all when you're gluing edges - they're just guides to help you keep things aligned while you glue up. Butt joints would be fine (as eggflan says, glue is strong) given some provisos. It's a grand piece of table, I feel slightly out of my depth commenting here, but it strikes me that it's nothing that most of us wouldn't consider as normal joinery for a hefty bench top, just rather more neatly executed.

Please don't jump down the screws/bolts/nails/remedial bodge path. If the movement in the table is pulling glue joints apart then random bits of hardware aren't going to stand much chance. Any batons should be orientated with the grain so that they're stiff in the vertical and running across the grain as Dan says. After which, If it continues to get worse let it. There's no point sweating until the wood has stabilised somewhat - hopefully turning it upside down does the trick. If it goes pear shaped the best remedy I reckon (and for such a smart front of house bit of furniture I reckon you want to do the job properly) is to...

1. Saw along the glue joints.
2. Plane the edges forming a spring joint using a long hand plane - a #7 or #8 or a great big woodie ala woodbloke - machinery is a dumb instrument not well equipped to cope with the subtleties like wood movement.
3. Clamp and glue back together a few sticks at a time trying not to get glue on the carpet and keeping to top as level as possible
4. Tidy the top and refinish.
5. That or take it back to the shop and give them another go at it.
6. also, you seem to have put pebbles on your fire instead of coal. Doh.

 

[newt]

I cannot understand why the glue joints are failing, there are no horizontal constraints, so it should be able to expand and contract across the grain. Cupping is another issue.