A Simple Coffee Table Out of Wood

Hi guys, one of my friend wanted a new coffee table for his new flat. I decided to build something for him out of wood of course. I choose ash, because it's not so expensive in France and it has a realy nice grain. I like this wood, it's similiar to oak but less expensive.

At the end of this publication you can watch 4 videos about how I built this coffee table. If you like it don't forget to put the thumb up, share those videos, or subsribe :) and thanks for watching.

You can also visit my WebSite for more pictures, and to get the sketchup plan.

I called it a simple coffee table because all the structure is assembly using standard joints (mortises, and tenons). For the drawer I used handmade blind dovetails, that's much more complicated, but it turns well.

The lid is in five parts gluing together using groove and tongue between each parts. Hope you'll like it guys !

Happy woodworking.

You'll need some wood :) of course.

The cutlist

The sketchup model (click below to download it)

Machines :

- Circular saw

- Router

- Chisels

- Handsaws

- Handplanes

- Sandpapers

- Some measuring tools

- Varnish or what you want to finish it

- and some patience :)

To begin I cut and planed all the pieces that I needed to lenght using my circular saw and a planer/thicknesser.

First of all I glued 2 pieces of wood for each feet. When it dried I cut it to lenght and I worked on mortises using my router table and chisels to square it.

Then I cut all the tenons for the structure of the coffee table. Don't forget to often test the fit.

Now It's time to work on the drawer support. The drawer will slide on this part. I joined all the pieces again with mortises and tenons. I glued it all together and BOOM !! here is the drawer support. Test the fit again.

I cut directly into the structure the front drawer to keep the grain. I use a multifonction cutter (don't know the english name). It took me realy long time just for one piece.

I made it by hand, it's more relaxing :). It turned pretty well, The fit was good, and the drawer looked nice. Nothing special, I use a dovetail saw, chisels and that's all.

As I said, the lide is in 5 parts. I glued all the pieces using grooves and tongues. After that I cut a rabbet all around the lid. Then I can add the sides.

hmmm... The long sides are gluing directly on the li using groove and rabbet. But the shorts sides are not glued to prevent the lid movements. I just used tenons and peg to keep the short sides in place (and also groove and rabbet, but no glue). Hope that is understandable, don't forget that I'm French :D.

And finaly the finishing. I just a varnish. I don't remember exctly how mane coats, but it was at least 6 coats. I'm sorry, but I have a problem with my camera, so there is no this part on video :(.

The lid sides