Rocky Top coffee table finished!

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merrill77

Master Scrap Maker
Chris
I finally finished my coffee table yesterday and moved it up into the house!!!:eusa_danc

I need to find some time to get some good photos taken, but these will have to suffice for now. The legs and stretchers are cherry, the bottom is maple plywood (IIRC) and the top is padauk. The top goes onto the stretchers with sliding dovetails and the legs use a pegged bridle joint. There is no glue and no fasteners in this table (other than the 8 pegs) - no screws, nails, brads, biscuits...nothing but what you see! Getting the perfect fit on all the joinery was quite a challenge for me - almost as big a challenge as the finish. I made some of the parts 3 times before I got them right...and still not perfect. The joinery was cut in the dry winter...but we'll see how it holds up when the dry weather comes back.

No stain or dye - all natural wood colors. The Finish is shellac and everything but the top was wet-sanded with danish oil. Paduak has large pores, like oak or walnut, but I wanted a mirror finish...and I did not want to use a pore filler. So I put on many heavy coats of shellac and cut back the finish with a hand scraper every 5 coats or so until it was smooth. Then wet sanded with mineral oil up to 2000 grit for a perfectly smooth satin finish. Let that dry for a few days and came back to find a few places where I had sanded through, so I repeated the process again (though it required much fewer coats this time). Then I french polished the top - that probably took another 30 or 40 passes (this goes really quick - probably about 4-6 hours total). This was my first time with french polishing (besides my practice pieces) - the gloss is not perfect, but I'll go out on a limb by saying that I'm getting close. At any rate, it is by far the best finish job I've ever done.

I've been working on this on-and-off since last fall - interrupted by a major shop remodel. Credit for the design goes Dale Raymond, who graciously shared his plans with me.

Critique welcomed.





 

Conagher

New User
Kevin
I like it!
Congrats on wrapping the project up. I know how projects that extend out for a long time goes, and they sure feel good when they finally reach completion.

I have been intrigued by the 'no fastener' type of construction for the last few years, but havent undertaken any projects with it yet. I am glad to see others having such great success with it!

Well done Chris!
 

thsb

New User
Tim
Very nice-I like the legs, as i think the curves add a cool touch. And great patience on all that finish work, that is one of the many areas where i need to develop.
 

Canuck

Wayne
Corporate Member
Really nice !!!!!

:icon_thum:icon_thum:icon_thum:icon_thum:icon_thum:icon_thum

The woods sure compliment each other very well and the finish is SUPER!

Wayne
 

novice99

New User
Mike
I must echo everyone else- the design, the woods, and the finish are superb! I hope to be able to do such work someday.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
Chris,

Very nicely done from bottom to top. The twin leg design gives it a nice Asian appearance.

You have more finishing patience than many of us. Congrats. :thumbs_up
 

merrill77

Master Scrap Maker
Chris
Thanks for all the feedback, I really appreciate it! I still need to get some better photographs.

My next project is to build myself a proper workbench. It is, obviously, a much larger project than this coffee table. Besides the inherent fun in building a workbench, I'm excited because the finishing will be so easy. Wooo-hooooooo!
 
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