and Walnut coffee table

Made by Gabriel McKinley

Tools needed for this project

Press  Table  Orbital (and , 60, 120, 220, and 320 grits)   Thickness Planer  Basic Saw Blade for your Table, Miter, and Circular (80 Tooth will work fine)  Stack (at least ½”)  Planer (I will explain how to build that later)  Flattening Bit (for your router)  3/4” and 3/8” Forstner drill bits  3/16” and 5/16” Allen Wrench  Pipe Clamps

Materials needed for this project

 Maple Slab  Walnut  Epoxy (clear)  2 1/2” Hex Bolts and Threaded Inserts  Rubio Monocoat Pure Color  White Buffing Pad for your orbital sander  Stir Sticks  Toothpicks  Lighter or Blow Torch  Mixing Cups  Penetrating Epoxy  Titebond 2 Glue

Hello, my name is Gabriel McKinley and today I am presenting to you my first fine project, my coffee table. The coffee tabletop is made from Maple wood with clear epoxy. Epoxy is a resin that you can use to fill in cracks and voids in a piece. You can also use epoxy to glue pieces together. My Maple top has a set of complimentary legs that really help with the color combination of the walnut legs and dark spalting in the top. I got the Maple, walnut, and epoxy from Ember in Riley. I choose Ember Woods Sawmill because they have a nice wide selection of wood, epoxy and dyes for epoxy. I got the idea for my coffee tabletop because of a boardgame. The boardgame is called Trekking the National Parks. The board part of the boardgame is 20”x24” and has 11 cards out and draw piles along as discard piles. So, our existing coffee table couldn’t fit the boardgame. My solution to this problem was to make a bigger coffee table. I hope you like my maple and walnut coffee table.

How to make the Maple Top

1. We went to Ember Woods Sawmill and got my rough cut maple top. 2. We started this project by cutting the Maple slab down to 57” using our circular saw. 3. Next we do epoxy. Follow the instructions on how to use your epoxy. On the clear Eco- Poxy, It told me to use 1:1 ratio resin and hardner, letting it set for 1 day and sanding in between coats (unless you apply the epoxy when the layer before is still tacky.) 4. Then we planed the top down using my router planer and my flattening bit. (I will have more information on that at the end.) 5. Next we finished the epoxy work. We had to fill in the little bubbles that opened when we planed it to 1 3/4” thickness. 6. Then we took the top and sanded using 60 grit which is the roughest grit. 7. We found out that the board had some weak spots in it due to spalting and sap wood. 8. We took the board and applied a coat of penetrating epoxy. This epoxy provides strength to any weakened part of the tabletop. 9. Then we sand 60 grit 10. Then we sand 120 grit. 11. We will apply Rubio Monocoat Pure on it and start the legs.

How to build the table legs 1. We went to Ember Woods Sawmill and got the walnut material. 2. First, we take our big piece of walnut and cut it down to three strips that were 3 1/4” x 2 1/2” using my . 3. Next we planed all sides using my thickness planer and let it sit for 2 days to open the pores if they needed to move around and shift a bit. 4. Third, we planed them down to final dimensions of 3”x 2” again, using the thickness planer. 5. Next, we cut all the bridle cuts using the table saw and the dado stack and pieced them together without glue for a test fit. 6. Then we drilled the holes to attach it to the top using my drill press and the Forstner bits. 7. Next we assemble it using glue and clamps. 8. Then we sand just like we did with the top starting with the roughest grit and then moving up to the finer grits. 9. We will finish it using Rubio Monocoat Pure and attach it to the top using the bolts and threaded inserts and an Allen Wrench.

Router Planer

The router planer is a 2”x4” frame with rails on the sides to support the sled. You set slab in the frame and slide the sled, holding the router, back and forth until flat. Then you flip over and do the other side.

How to Build a Router Planer 1. First you buy 5 2”x4”s. 2. Next you cut 8 27” lengths. This will make the frame 3. Then cut 2 5’ lengths. These will be the rails 4. Attach the ends of the 27” pieces equally spread apart to each 5’ length. 5. Next you buy the for the sled. 6. Then you cut a piece that is (what ever size your router base plate is) x30” 7. Cut the side pieces to what ever height you want x 30” 8. Cut a slot for the router bit to go through. 9. Cut some leftover 2”x4”s into 2”x(how ever wide your sled is.) for your track that follows the rail 10. Attach the bottom the side rails using glue and a gun. 11. Attach the rails to the bottom edges. 12. Do some router .