Modern Coffee Table
Are you ready to give your table saw a rigorous workout? Standing behind that machine is where you will spend the majority of your time if you decide to build this beauty of a coffee table.
Getting it Going
We chose black walnut wood, but cherry would be another good choice. Bring your lumber into your shop several days in advance, and procure at least 30% more than you think you’ll need.
This is a project where it makes good sense to buy the stock in the rough and surface it in your own shop. That is because you will be able to mill it to exactly the same thickness — which, if you are making all these cross-lap joints (also known as half-lap joints), is an important consideration for their fit.
Once your stock is at the proper thickness, you can proceed to break it down to the component parts of the tabletop — there are a lot of pieces. With a very sharp blade in your table saw, start by ripping the for sizes.) It is a good idea to use a zero-clearance insert if you have one. When the ripping is done, crosscutting begins, but here is an important note: cut the pieces slightly overlong by at least 3/4". The reason is that, with the many cross-lap cuts you will make, if your setup is off even 1/64" or less, that can add up to nearly 1/4" over 14 cuts. You also will want to make a couple more extra slats than you need in each length. Think of it as working smart, not hard.
