Straight or Curved Aprons for Oval Coffee Table

[John15]

I'm planning to make a coffee table with a 900mm x 550mm oval top. My question is, from an appearance point of view should the aprons be curved to mirror the shape of the top or can they be straight? I'm hoping they can be straight as I'm not confident I can form them curved.

John

 

[marcros]

how much overhang do you have planned?
I think that you could probably get away with straight on a low height table- you are likely to be looking down on it, so unlikely to notice it.

 

[John15]

Marcros,

Not sure. At the 'corners' there will obviously be less than halfway along the sides. I guess the overhang at the legs needs to be at least 25mm, maybe more?

John

 

[marcros]

i would go with a larger overhang, but this looks ok to me http://www.propertylettingfurniture.co. ... 0hPYfkrKUk which is a similar concept, even if you dont put the legs through the top.

 

[marcros]

or another http://demi.dalailina.com/how-to-build- ... ble-ideas/

 

[John15]

Thanks Marcros. The second example looks ideal.

John

 

[Steve Maskery]

Curved rails are nice. Classy. Especially if it is a period piece. But they are much more difficult to do well.
If you are looking for a temporary look, straight rails will be fine.

I have made an oval coffee table, but it had no rails at all, and I've made curved rails, but for a demilune side table, rather than a coffee table. It was much higher and the aprons were part of the aesthetics.

So it is down to what you want to see, what level of skill you have and how much time you want to put into it.

Helpful (?) hint: If you make the top of Golden Proportions (1:1.62) then it will probably look good, whichever structure you use!

 

[Brentingby]

How about no aprons? Instead, rails between diagonally opposed legs. Or cleats between the top and the legs at each end.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Here is an oval table with no rails. It was nightmare to do!

 

[John15]

That's a beautiful table Steve. I can imagine the difficulty but a fabulous result.

John

 

[Steve Maskery]

It helped by modelling it in SketchUp first. The difficulty was not so much getting the shapes right, but getting the sizes spot on. My first (fortunately dry) assembly showd me that I had got something very badly wrong. Huge gaps at the top. So it was quite a bit of trial and error that I didn't expect to get it to mate around the top ring and the bottom shelf at the same time. I still didn't know where I'd gone wrong.

S

 

[Racers]

How are you making the oval top?
The same technique can be used to curve the rails.

Pete

 

[custard]

Here is an oval table with no rails. It was nightmare to do!

That looks a bit tricky. Well done that man!

=D>

 

[custard]

I'm planning to make a coffee table with a 900mm x 550mm oval top. My question is, from an appearance point of view should the aprons be curved to mirror the shape of the top or can they be straight? I'm hoping they can be straight as I'm not confident I can form them curved.

John

Course they can be straight, or instead of a curve in plan view you can run a shallow curve along the bottom edge of the aprons with a spokeshave (or if you've got a few to do then use a router and a template) this isn't difficult but will mirror the curve in the top.

Good luck!

 

[John15]

Thanks Custard for confirming that straight aprons will look OK. I like the idea of forming a curve to the undersides. For material I plan to use the wood from a very old and damaged mahogany drop-leaf table I bought at auction a few months ago. The 950 x 450 x 20mm top and leaves are from a single board and slightly bowed so I will need to rip and plane them flat. The legs are in good condition so just some cutting and planing to size for them.

John

 

[John15]

How are you making the oval top?
The same technique can be used to curve the rails.

Pete

Pete,
I plan to form the oval shape by the 'piece of string' method. Is there another way?
John

 

[Racers]

No, how are you cutting it out, you can use the same method to curve the rails.

Pete

 

[John15]

I was thinking of using a bandsaw.

John

 

[custard]

For material I plan to use the wood from a very old and damaged mahogany drop-leaf table I bought at auction a few months ago.

That's an excellent choice of material.

Alan Peters used to source mahogany for drawer sides from "breaker" antiques, and what made sense for him makes even more sense today.

The quality of mahogany available in timber yards has been steadily declining for many years, from Cuban to Brazilian to Honduran to timbers now marketed as "African Mahogany" which aren't actually true mahoganies at all. But all the time that new timber quality has been falling the market for antiques has also been declining, so today we have the bizarre situation that you can find really wonderful quality salvaged mahogany at lower prices than you'd pay for Khaya or Sapele!

 

[John15]

I'm planning to make a coffee table with a 900mm x 550mm oval top. My question is, from an appearance point of view should the aprons be curved to mirror the shape of the top or can they be straight? I'm hoping they can be straight as I'm not confident I can form them curved.

John

Course they can be straight, or instead of a curve in plan view you can run a shallow curve along the bottom edge of the aprons with a spokeshave (or if you've got a few to do then use a router and a template) this isn't difficult but will mirror the curve in the top.

Good luck!

The photo is the first dry fit of the legs and shelf and it all looks OK.

I've made the rails straight as you can see and am now wondering whether to put a curve on the underside as suggested by Custard, and how deep should it be. The rails are 50mm. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

John