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Thread: Campaign style coffee table

  1. #1

    Campaign style coffee table

    Design question for style:

    I'm trying to build a campaign-style coffee table, and concerned about controlling warp on the top. Will it look awkward to use breadboards on a top for this style? Here's the example I"m ripping off:

    https://rh.com/catalog/product/produ...196&sale=false

    My top is 4/4 white oak. I expected it to be more 3/4 by the time I got it planed, but it's still a bit thick, which works in the design. Problem is that it has already warped a bit (due to bad timing on glue up and some huge humidity swings in the shop). I've got it leveled back out with pressure and climate conrol, but I'm sure it will warp again or warp more if not controlled.

    KC

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    South West Ontario
    Posts
    1,502
    Yes I think breadboard ends will look terrible with that style. Can you study the grain and flip the boards over to alternate the grain and minimize the twist? Using narrower boards may help with this as well.
    ​You can do a lot with very little! You can do a little more with a lot!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    10,304
    Notice that the grain on the sides of your example runs up-down. That's important. The top is going to grow and shrink across the grain, because wood does that. With the grain on the sides running up-down, the sides will grow and shrink in the same direction, so the glue joint between the sides and the top will not rip itself apart.

    I'd build the upper 6" of the piece -- the "box" part -- as a separate subassembly from the base. The base would have rails running from leg to leg, with the grain direction running horizontally. Those rails will not grow and shrink in the leg-to-leg direction, so the base overall dimensions with not change with humidity changes. The box, sitting loosely on top of the base, can grow or shrink.

    This is only a visual detail, not a structural thing, but the side-to-top joint in your example is a miter joint, and it appears to be a waterfall arrangement of the wood. That is, the grain pattern of the wood on top continues over the edge and down the side -- like a waterfall.

  4. #4
    Thanks for the advice! I wanted to do the waterfall ends, but I was concerned about the warp in the top. After a week inside my house with 300lbs of weight on it, it has flattened nicely, so I think I'll be ok. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

    Do you think the "box" part of the top requires a full bottom panel or can it be tied together with stretchers?

  5. #5
    So this what I ended up with. After some discussion, the wife was not really excited about the hardware, accents and drawers on the campaign style table and wanted something simpler. I did end up with the waterfall/book match ends and I think they came out looking good, but overall the table is a much less "complicated" build.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Michigan, USA
    Posts
    548
    Obviously, tastes vary, but I much prefer what you built, as opposed to the pic in your original post - very handsome.

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