Foyer Table

I’ve recently done a string of complicated, challenging, long-time-frame woodworking projects. I was ready for an easy and quick project. We needed a small corner table for our front entry foyer. So this foyer table was conceived in the intersection of those two goals.

Actually, there was a third motivator for the table. I was the fortunate benefactor of the generosity of my good friend, Bob. He gave me a number of pieces of S4S¹ black walnut lumber. I wanted to use it in a nice project. So it was used to make the legs and skirts. Skirts are also and likely more commonly, called aprons.

The table dimensions and its shape were chosen to fit the area. The area dictated a triangularly shaped top and three legs. My original intent was to use a solid piece of teak for the top. But finished samples of the teak and walnut just didn’t result in a pleasing contrast. So I bought a piece of 6/4 maple for the top. The choice of maple for the top has the side benefit of being suitable for its sunny location. Sun will bleach most woods over time, and being blond, the maple will undergo the smallest changes. The following photos show the finished table and the steps of construction.

The cross inlay is appropriately made of bloodwood. Bloodwood is brown in color immediately after cutting, but exposure to air will turn it blood red over time. I had a strong urge to include a small drawer on the front, but my desire to keep it simple prevailed.

The first construction step was to cut the legs to width and length. I then used a mortising machine to cut the rectangular mortises to receive mating tenons from the skirts. A prototype skirt end is shown in the background. The prototype was done to get the exact measurements for cutting the actual tenons for good fits.  Tenons were cut on a combination of table saw, router table, and band saw.

Once all the parts were cut, they were dry-fitted to perfect the assembly steps, clamping points and clamping means. The very flat surface and many clamping holes of the Paulk workbench, previously covered in another blog article², make it an excellent assembly platform.

There were at least two possible ways to mechanically reinforce the angled joints in the front skirt. One was to use biscuit joinery. I chose instead to use a full width spline. I first cut the mating slots on the table saw using the same blade angle setting used for making the angled cuts. I then machined the splines from solid oak cut with the grain running horizontally to match the plane of the two skirt pieces being joined.

I model all but the smallest projects in SketchUp which is a 3D modeling program. One of the great benefits of a computer model is that all measurements are automatically calculated from the dimensioned drawings, including angles. The angle measurements made it easy to set up the table saw for cutting the front skirt board into its three separate pieces.

All three parts of the front skirt were cut from the same board. This was done to match the grain across the angled cuts. Because the material in the saw cut was wasted, it isn’t perfect, but it’s close. The grain matching can be seen in this photo.

The next step was to taper the legs. This was done only after the mortises were cut. The mortising machine likes to have orthogonal surfaces to work against. Because my 30-something year old, homemade taper jig was not adjustable, I took a break from table construction to make a more functional taper jig. This one allows adjusting the taper angle to suit multiple size legs. A couple of toggle clamps hold the work to the jig.

(I have reached the point in my hobby and my life where the stark reality is that the tools I’m now making, as well as many of the projects, will be functional long after I’m gone. Just one of the many reminders of my mortality.)

 This photo shows a leg clamped to the new taper jig, ready to be tapered on all four sides.

After receiving their tapers, the legs were lightly sanded with a belt sander and then by hand using a sanding block. The rubber-coated sanding supports are sitting on the down-draft area of the workbench to allow evacuation of sanding dust as it was produced. The dust from many woods is toxic, and some seriously so.

The following photo shows the skirt pieces and joint splines ready for assembly and glue-up.

Gluing the splines into the angled skirt joints was tricky. The two angled joints were glued and allowed to dry before continuing assembly.

Final glue-up. No metal fasteners were used in the assembly of the frame (legs and aprons). Plastic-coated butcher paper was used to keep glue off the workbench at the joints.

The frame is complete and ready for finishing. Screws were used to fasten wooden buttons to the underside of the top. The buttons engage in the grooves around the perimeter of the top of the skirt. This is a conventional way to attach tops to frames. The buttons allow the top to “move” with changes in the weather without tearing apart the glued joints in the frame or splitting the top. Note again the alignment of the grain across the skirt joints.

 After the top was completed, it was joined to the frame, completing the table except for applying a finish. Top assembly was done using conventional construction. Four boards were edge-joined using biscuits and glue. The final shape was then cut, following by routing the edge profile at the router table. The recess for the cross inlay was cut with a 2-1/4 HP plunge router, fitted with a 1/8” straight bit, hand-guided under a lighted magnifier. This step mandated no caffeine the day of the process. Corners of the inlay recess were cleaned up with a 1/4 inch chisel and a smaller, hand-made chisel.

No stain was used in the project. The final color is the natural color of the wood. A couple of coats of Deft Satin lacquer were sprayed. After allowing the lacquer to cure one hour, the top was block sanded to 6000 grit using water as a lubricant. The remainder of the exposed surfaces was lightly sanded by hand with an unbacked piece of 6000 sandpaper. It has received numerous complements, and my wife is happy with her present.

Trivia question: Name two advantages of a three-legged table? Answer: It doesn’t wobble and there is one less leg to make.

Notes: 

1. Lumber can be purchased rough cut or planed (smooth finish). “S4S” is an abbreviation for “surfaced four sides”, meaning that it is dimensioned and that both faces and both edges have been machined relatively smooth. “S2S” is also available and it means that the two faces are smoothed, but the edges are left rough. Rough-cut lumber is designated by its thickness in quarters of an inch. For example, 1-1/4 inch thick lumber would be designated 5/4, and is spoken as “five quarters”.
2. Paulk Workbench, March 25, 2017
   http://opinionatedoldman.blogspot.com/search/label/Paulk%20Workbench