Walnut Sofa Table

[Mark Ketelsen]

floating top sofa table

[glenn bradley]

Very nicely done. Love the figure.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The book matched top on that is beautiful and the joinery looks fantastic! Well done, Sir!

[Andrew Hughes]

That’s the nicest looking floating top hall table I’ve seen. Beautiful

[Jim Becker]

Mark, that really is a very nice table!

[Bob Riefer]

Gorgeous!!!! Thank you for sharing!!

[Lee Schierer]

Excellent work that is stunning. Please tell us more about the joinery and finish.

[Mark Rainey]

Elegant table! Is that air dried walnut?

[Jon Grider]

Very nice! Well done. Great proportions and design.

[andy bessette]

Really nice design and workmanship.

[Jim Tobias]

Very nice! The bookmatched top really establishes the overall look.....which is outstanding.

Jim

[Mark Ketelsen]

Please tell us more about the joinery and finish.

The three under-rails that support the top are joined to the aprons with double through-tenons 5/16" thick. The mortises were cut with a router with fence, and the tenons were bandsaw cut. The main trick to cutting the mortises and tenons is to use a single spacer block to register both the second mortise of a pair and the second tenon of a pair. (For tenons I also used a second spacer to cut tenons to thickness. This spacer needs to be the tenon thickness, 5/16", plus the bandsaw kerf width.) So for both mortises and tenons, one setting of the router fence and and one setting of the bandsaw fence is all that is needed to get a perfect fit for all the mortises and tenons.

Before doing anything with the shelf and shelf rails that hold it, I cut the mortises and tenons for the leg-apron joints and then glued the under-rails and aprons. The joinery associated with the lower rails and shelf was a little tricky because the legs are tapered on the two inside faces. I cut the mortises for the shelf rails before I tapered the legs so that the mortises would be horizontal. I then tapered the legs. Next I dry-assembled the legs and apron/under-rail assembly. Then I clamped stock for the shelf rails to the legs at the desired distance from the bottom of the legs and scribed the shelf rail stock for the tenon shoulders (due to the leg taper these shoulders are slightly out of perpendicular).

I then cut the end tenons and mortises for the shelf sticks to complete the shelf rails. I dry-assembled legs with shelf rails and apron/under-rail assemble. This configuration allowed me to size the shelf length. I aligned the board from which I would rip the long shelf pieces, across the shelf rails and scribed the tenon shoulders on both ends. Before I ripped the shelf pieces, I cut one wide tenon on each end of the board. Then I ripped the individual shelf pieces. I then cut the 3/4" cubes for the lattice and glued and planed the shelf.

The glue-up required an extra set of hands to help apply glue to so many joints (4 at each end of shelf, both ends of both shelf rails, and 4 apron/leg joints) and then to guide the shelf tenons into their mortises as the leg/apron joints were closed.

The table was finished with Sutherland Welles Botanical Polymerized Tung Oil. This product has very low VOC content which is great for indoor application. I brushed then wiped the first coat and then applied subsequent coats with Mirlon 1500 grit pads, wiping after each. I allowed the finish to harder for a couple weeks then rubbed out with 0000 steel wool and Liberon Black Bison wax.

[Bill McNiel]

Outstanding piece!

Checks all the boxes; Design, Material selection, Craftsmanship, Function & Finish.

Kudos!