Update March ‘21 Coffee Table WIP : Complete!
- Thread starter Fitzroy
- Start date
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Well it’s finally finished, only a few photos apart from the completed piece sorry! Decisions on round over radiuses ended with large on ends, smaller on sides and tiny round the inside.
The biggest problem was the glue up, I’d bought some 30min epoxy that I used on the test piece, however 5 teeth took five mins to glue all the faces. The main piece had 60 teeth and I was very worried about open time! The piece had to go together in one shot or it was game over. I found some 60min epoxy online and also roped in the wife to help. 45mins in and the epoxy was like toffee, 60mins my arse. The initial careful application went out the window and we were slapping it on like, well slap on a certain type of night worker. Cleanup and sanding just go more time consuming but it was together and clamped up.
The clamp up was practiced many times which revealed I needed to make clamping blocks that went between the teeth to try and pull in a few bits that had cupped in the months they had sat in the shed, additionally I found I needed more clamps (what a shame!).
Once out it was all set up it was clamps off and trim off the excess and plane flush. Round overs were put on with a hand plane, I contemplated the router but after the number of hours there are in the piece I was terrified of a last minute **** up. The round overs revealed a few minor gaps in the glue up and I had one chunk pop out during planing, superglue and sawdust did an adequate job there fill/fix the gaps.
I also had to fix the earlier epoxy pour that I learnt took more than 48hrs to set (see the mess in earlier posts when I turned to top over too soon!) It’s amazing how less stressful the second ‘pour’ was as I now had a much better idea of how to do it. Overfilled just slightly, having levelled the piece precisely and some tape kept the excess in place.
Feet and finish were the last two obstacles. Bringing it into its new home allowed SHMBO to pick the feet height, which thankfully matched my thinking. Some simple cushion feet were attached with insert nuts so they can be shimmed or trimmed if we want to change the hieght. However the ‘shadow gap’ looks great so likely no change is needed.
Body was sanded to 180 and top to 240, epoxy fill was sanded to 1000 keeping off the surrounding wood as much as possible. In an attempt to keep it quite light in colour for a while it’s been finished in Osmo 420 UV. Two coats applied very thin with a cotton pad and all excess removed soon after.
So that’s it done. Over a year since starting, over two years since deciding on a design, and over four years since we decided we needed a decent coffee table in the room. You see why I love Mrs Fitz, patience of an angel!
The biggest problem was the glue up, I’d bought some 30min epoxy that I used on the test piece, however 5 teeth took five mins to glue all the faces. The main piece had 60 teeth and I was very worried about open time! The piece had to go together in one shot or it was game over. I found some 60min epoxy online and also roped in the wife to help. 45mins in and the epoxy was like toffee, 60mins my arse. The initial careful application went out the window and we were slapping it on like, well slap on a certain type of night worker. Cleanup and sanding just go more time consuming but it was together and clamped up.
The clamp up was practiced many times which revealed I needed to make clamping blocks that went between the teeth to try and pull in a few bits that had cupped in the months they had sat in the shed, additionally I found I needed more clamps (what a shame!).
I also had to fix the earlier epoxy pour that I learnt took more than 48hrs to set (see the mess in earlier posts when I turned to top over too soon!) It’s amazing how less stressful the second ‘pour’ was as I now had a much better idea of how to do it. Overfilled just slightly, having levelled the piece precisely and some tape kept the excess in place.
Feet and finish were the last two obstacles. Bringing it into its new home allowed SHMBO to pick the feet height, which thankfully matched my thinking. Some simple cushion feet were attached with insert nuts so they can be shimmed or trimmed if we want to change the hieght. However the ‘shadow gap’ looks great so likely no change is needed.
So that’s it done. Over a year since starting, over two years since deciding on a design, and over four years since we decided we needed a decent coffee table in the room. You see why I love Mrs Fitz, patience of an angel!
Last edited:
Rorton
Established Member
lovely piece, really like the epoxy part too, looks 3d from some angles!
gregmcateer
Established Member
Very nice, sir.
