COFFEE TABLE
COFFEE TABLE
I designed and built a coffee table for my new apartment. This was my first woodworking project and it was a great opportunity for me to learn several different tools I had access to in the GVU Prototyping Lab, a maker-space at Georgia Tech that I work at as a lab assistant.
Build Process
I first came up with the design by looking for inspiration from existing coffee tables on the market or made by content creators on the Internet. I knew I wanted the top surface to be in a figure eight shape and I wanted the legs to be fluted.
After planning out my measurements and buying my materials, my first task was cutting my sheet of plywood into the figure eight shape. For this, I learned how to use a jig saw. Then, I went in and did a LOT of sanding around the edges using a disk sander and a drum sander. I also used a hand sander to smooth out the top of the surface.
For the legs, I glued half round dowels to two circles that were connected by a support board. As a learning experience, I was trained to use a miter saw and a table saw for cutting the half round dowels. In order to make them perfect circles, the wood circles were made using a laser cutter.
Then, I covered the edges of the plywood with edge banding to give it a more polished look. Finally, I stained the legs and the table top, coated it in polyurethane, and glued it all together!