Making a table

A picture journal of a project

Here is a picture story of a table I made. I decided to take some pictures during the process, mainly because this table was not designed by me, and it presented unusual engineering challenges. It features a base made of solid mahogany, and a huge arch resting on it. The arch holds two curved supports for the 3/4" thick glass top. The table needed to be very strong in order to support the heavy glass top. To the right you see the bending form for the arch, with the layers of bending ply resting on it.

The bending form in the background, and all the layers of bending ply laid out ready to be rolled with epoxy.

I almost used a gallon of epoxy on this project.

Here the lamination is inside the vacuum bag, and the whole package is strapped to the bending form. Then the vacuum is applied, which makes the lamination pressed tight. This is the "outside form" method

You can see the vacuum hose connection at the bottom. The band clamps holds the arch in shape.

The laminated arch core finished and cured. Very strong.

Some other parts of the table; the carved rosewood end caps for the rolls, and the mahogany stock for the base.

Want a roll with your coffee?

This is the Masur Birch veneers for the surface of the arch. I make a two-ply, which I grain fill and pre-sand before I glue it to the arch. It is easier to work on a flat surface!

The bent laminated glass support of rosewood are being clamped.

Pattern shaping the base parts on my shaper.

Stay clear with fingers!

This is how I made the cylinders; not owning a lathe, I had to be inventive. I made a jig which held my blank in position in front of my shaper on the sliding table. Slowly rotating the blank by hand while feeding created a perfect cylinder!

The core of the rolls, the end caps ready to glue on, and the laminated rosewood arches for the glass support.

A rough fit of the table parts. The feet on the base are still missing.

The pre-sanded veneer skins are being glued on to the arch

The same method here, after the base core is made, it is being veneered with ready made pre-sanded two-ply's. That way I can avoid sanding on curved surfaces as much as possible.

I use the 3' wide plastic tubing bag here, used by surfboard makers. It is very thin, and disposable.

The main elements of the table are being dry fitted. You can see the rosewood roll, veneered after the end cap was glued on.

Routing jig for the joinery of the glass support arches.

Dry fitting of the rosewood arches.

Making if the rolled lip on the rosewood rolls.

Final veneering of the base. This is always a little nerve wrecking, you don't know until you open the bag how it went.

Final veneering of the edge veneers on the arch.

Rosewood "skins" prepared for gluing on the rolls.

The glass supports are being glued in place

Final dry fitting of the base and the arch.

Detail picture of the rosewood roll ready to finish.

The table ready for final hand sanding and finishing.

Due to the complicated assembly, I pre finished all the parts, masking off glue joints. That way I didn't have to worry about overspray and inaccessible corners. Here is the final glue-up of the rosewood rolls to the base.

You can see more pictures of the finished table here.

This table is designed by Curtis Paddock