WIP - Competition Entry: Sofa / Console Table

[ByronBlack]

Welcome to the build thread for my Sofa Table. Included in this opening post are; details of the materials to be used, joinery, particular techniques, and design considerations.

First of all. Here are my sketchup designs of the sofa table:

Here's how the table will be used - on the back of our 2 seater sofa:

And another from a further angle:

Here's a close up with 'edges' switched on in sketchup:

And finally - a representation of how the finished project will look, along with a demonstration of the drawer runner setup:

Design Brief
- To build a table with three drawers, and a shelf to hold DVD's and books
- To match existing and future furniture styles
- To be 'unique' and unlike a regular item from Next, Argos, MFI etc..

Materials & Joinery
The table will be made with contrasting timber; Walnut & Maple. The drawer fronts will be a more decorative maple, most probably curly maple or tiger maple depending on availability and cost.

The drawer carcass will be constructed using either biscuits or dowells - depending on tool arrangement at the time of construction. The drawers themselves will be dovetailed (half blind) by hand. The drawer bottoms will be a panel of aromatic cedar.

The drawer runners will incorporate the pulls, and these will be made with either a lighter walnut or brown oak to distinguish them from the dark walnut of the carcass. The pulls themselves will be hand-carved.

I estimate it will take approx 40-45 hours to complete, all the joinery will be a blend of hand and machine work with an emphasis on handwork where possible.

The inspiration for this table came from many area's, mostly from me just scribbling about on a sketchpad to figure out a pleasing design for the legs and shelf arrangement, there are some small details that I've evolved from some Krenov pieces, and a few idea's from a mission style table I saw on Taunton.

That's it for now, the next update will be when I have ordered and started the initial milling of the timber. I hope you enjoy following this project as much as I am anticipating building it.

 

[Ironballs]

Like the look of that, modern and striking. May be the perspective of the diagram but it does look like it may be a bit top heavy and prone to toppling over if it gets a tap from the settee as the legs are quite close together.

Your legs, see you're going for a curve, I'm also planning curved legs for my TV stand and I'm planning to saw from solid. Are you going for solid or laminated and have you worked out how much curve you can safely get away with? And if so do you want to tell me

 

[ByronBlack]

Hi Damian,

I understand what you mean about being top-heavy, but I think it's mostly the perspective. It's quite a squat table and most of the weight will be on the shelf (from books and nik-naks), also the legs are curves outside the width of the drawer-carcass so it should lend a fair bit of stability.

As for the legs - it's funny you should mention it actually, as the very minute before I came back on here I was mulling over the options. I see it as being three choices:

1. Cut from solid, easiest to do, but could have some short grain issues, and maybe some cosmetic ones.

2. Laminate into a mould/former - relatively easy, but more work than the first option, a lot stronger, but will show the grain lines on the front (visible view) of the legs.

3. Steam bend it into shape and then route to a template - probably more tricker than either options, but will have the best cosmetics and be equally strong - the only thing is, I've never steamed anything and it could go horribly wrong.

So, at the moment, I'm unsure of the best approach for this project, I'm going to investigate the pro's and con's of steaming and then make a decision.

As for the curve - I'll be aiming to print out the exact shape in the sketchup model and make a template from there, so it's a relatively shallow curve mostly towards the bottom of the leg which is also tapered, even if cut from solid, I'd imagine it would be strong enough, I'm just concerned with the cosmetic issue - I might get a piece and cut a trial leg and see how it comes out.

 

[OPJ]

Colin, if you decide to laminate the legs, you could hide the glue lines with a thin strip of wood, wide enough to cover the width of the curve. Only problem there is that it may not match with the other sides and, it will appear to have short grain in place. Is that a problem though?

I'm not sure about steam-bending anything. I think it works best when the component is fixed firmly in to place (eg. curved drawer rail tenonned in to legs). Otherwise, there's always that tendency that it will want to spring back, I feel. That's my concern with your legs.

If you're really lucky and are on good terms with the guys at your local yard, you may even be able to sort through and find some boards with curved grain!

 

[ByronBlack]

Olly -

I thought about veneering the glue-line edges, but if I do that, I might just cut from solid, as you mention, there will always be some short grain showing. I have a piece of scrap sycamore in the shed, so I think I might cut a shape from solid out of that and see how it looks, I'm thinking it won't be too bad considering sycamore/maple is considerably plain grained.

The ideal situation as you pointed out would be to find some curved boards, but most of the suppliers in my locale are unwilling to let me sort my own boards - I may go further afield though.

As for steam-bending, even if the legs do flatten over-time, it shouldn't affect the overall piece, but it's certainly a concern that I have - more research is required on this I think.

 

[Ironballs]

My curved legs are going to made out of maple (perhaps sycamore) and the big problem I have is that most maple is as straight as a die grain wise, so finding a naturally curved piece will be tricky. Especially as I'll have to order in at the thickness I'll need so won't be able to sift through a pile of boards.

I did toy with making compound legs (if that's the right word), ie have 4 maple mitred outers around a ply core, but then realised that a) that will be very hard to do with questionable strenght gains and b) I want to have wedged through tenons on the top

 

[ByronBlack]

Damian - I have sussed out my leg issue. I've re-jigged my design slightly to allow for a shallower curve towards the ends of the legs and reduce the taper.

I cut out a test piece today in sycamore, and it seems plenty strong enough without any cosmetic nasties. To achieve this, I cut a piece out of my flat-sawn board in such a way to achieve a rift-sawn piece, so that the grain went from one corner to the other in a diagonal pattern which produces straight grain on all four side - when the curve is cut, the grain orientation is preserved leaving a nice slender looking leg. So, all I have to do is find a piece at the timber merchant thick and wide enough to achieve a rift-sawn blank.