The making of the Coffee table

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Well... It took me a while to sort and select all the pictures to show the process.

Some of the pics are not so interesting but help to follow the time thread.

I build this table in several steps and places, at my previous home room /workshop ( 2,5 x2,5 meters) and at my parent's in law house on the country side (open air work).:)

At that time (last summer) I hadn't any power tools apart from a hand drill.
and the making went through several "stand by":eek: periods due to getting a new house, refurbishing it, moving in etc.

I hope you'll enjoy them.

On this first set you can see, the process of planing, gluing, more planing, even some end grain planing! of the top of the table and the added thickness on one side from which the wave will be carved out.

I will post several sets during these days I hope not to bore you too much.
 

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The making of the Cofee Table II ( Shaping the leg)

As I didn't want to waste wood, I used two thin scraps, that I planned and joined together to get the needed size.
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The leg is made by drawing two elipses, one one each end of the piece turned 90 degrees respect each other.

The resulting egde curve was drawn with the aid of templates, in this case there were two of them because de size of the ellipses was different.
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Not having a bandsaw or a hand held powered jigsaw I cut the shape by making several parallel cuts following the contour and chop the bits off with a chisel.

Roughed out the shape with a spokeshave and finish with a rasp. Although the spokeshave was very sharp, as the wood had quite rowed grain I was lifting splinters so I opted for the rasp for the final shaping.

to be continued...
 

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Part III Fitting the leg and tenons

Dry fit the leg and marked the section of the transitional shape from the flat opposite side of top to the leg.

Rough shaping with a gouge.

Gluing the other leg/side

Moved to parent’s in law place for woodworking holydays. Back yard’s partial view

Drilled holes for reinforcing tenons

Tenons with wedges

Final cut off and leveled tenons
 

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Part IV More shaping

Leveled tenons.

At this point a friend of mine lent me a powered hadn held planer that helped me to speed up the process of rough shaping the different parts of the table.

Carving out the top groove to accept the TV remote control

Shaping to curve the other side of the table.

Hey guys!!!:D I hope not to be overdoing it with so many pictures!!! . If so just let me know.

We are getting there....:)
 

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Part V and final yeah!!

Sanding, sanding and more sanding…..

Shaping transition to leg, this was more refined later on.

Checking overall appearance

Rounding the edge and the rest you already know

Thanks for viewing and bearing with me.

Any comments will be greatly appreciated.:wave:
 

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four stars on the documentry toni! thanks for taking the time to post the pics and to share your process.
tod
 
Goodness Toni, that is FANTASTIC!!! :headbang:

You deserve the tenacity (tenacidad) award for getting this project done! :clap:

What a huge amount of work, make darn sure that you have your name carved and or burned into that lovely piece of work, so your great grandkids will know who built it and when.

Stunning!

Where did you come up with the design, or was this something that just popped out of your artistic side?

Hats off you you sir, and you can never have too many pics!

Great job! :bow:
 
Hi Tod and Stu.

Thanks to you for taking the time to look at the pics.

Yes it is my own design, I'll post the initial sketches tomorrow if I can.
Well Stu... you are dammed good as well at documenting projects:), in fact I learnt how to do it surfing on your dungeon:thumb: but you are the boss:D .

Hopefully now that I have a bigger workshop and a jointer/thicknesser plus a band saw I'll be able to be more productive, with the help and inputs of my woodworking friends.:p
 
Very nice documentation of your process.
I really like how the single leg seems to "grow" out of the wood.
I like Iroka, I used it to build Adirondack chairs, it makes them look classy.
 
Hi Toni, :wave:
This was my first visit to your thread about making this coffee table. Your design is very nice and the single leg works well in the design. I really like the way it fits into the underside.
So much sanding but the results are so VERY Wonderful!:thumb:

Thanks for taking the time to show the progress of your work during the building and sanding stages.
The way you went about the build up of the shape and then the shaping of your curves was very rewarding.
Thanks again,
Shaz
 
That's a great series of pictures, Toni. You really are a sculptor who happens to work with wood. The table is stunning, and the amount of work necessary in amazing. I'm sure it took great patience waiting for this piece to come to life.
 
Well Toni,

Everyone beat me to the compliments I intended to send to you. But I'll say it again since you deserve it!

Very very nice work...and you did a GREAT job documenting the process! :thumb:

Thanks for sharing!
- Marty -
 
Great series of pics Toni. I always appreciate those who take time to walk us through the process. Great job on the pics and once again; beautiful form on that table.
 
The initial sketches

Hi everybody.

As I promised yesterday here you have the original sketches I made while designing the table. Here you can see how I went through several options and variations before deciding which one to make.

sketch.jpg

As you can see the design chosen was the one on the top right corner.
Initialy I thought about joining the top and the side leg by means of a sliding dovetail that would add interest to the side, as shown on the sketch, but not having any router or other machinery I though it would have been too much painstaking doing it.
 
Hola Toni :wave:

That is some impressive series of pictures! Amazing how much hand shaping a person can do when motivated! :thumb:

I have to say I also love that stone wall in the background... But I'm very partial to stone walls :D
 
Hey Toni, your hand drawn design confirms your artistic ability, man I wish I could draw like that! :thumb:

Cheers!
I was thinking the exact same thing. Toni's most definitely an artist. :clap:

I can do OK with mechanical drawing (compass and straightedge), but my freehand drawing looks like something done by a 10-year-old kid.
 
Hey Stu!

Man, you've grown so suddenly in your avatar from a cowboy kid to a bearded giant that you almost gave me a heart attack!:D

Many thanks for your and Vaughn's comments about my drawing abilities but I'm by no means a good draftsman, just average, in fact it is just matter of technique nothing to do with being an artist (which I don't consider myself).

It took me a few years to be able to sketch to a decent level and I have to say that I'm not specially gifted for it. As in woodworking it is a matter of drawing, and drawing and drawing so eventually you get the knack of it.

There are so many things that I learn everyday from the fellowwoodworkers of this forum that I feel a bit overwhelmed with all your good comments.

Thanks again to all of you
 
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