Contemporary Coffee Table

Class Preview

Build a high-end coffee table that will serve friends and family well for years to come. Create tapered legs, mortise and tenon joinery, a hand-planed finish and more.

Introduction & Planning the Mock-Up

Meet expert woodworker Craig Vandall Stevens and get started making an elegant handcrafted coffee table! Learn how to create effective preliminary sketches, then discover simple tricks for turning your sketch into a full-sized model. Plus, get expert advice on selecting wood and laying out the parts.

Milling & Joinery

Once you’ve laid out the parts, see how to cut your planks into manageable sizes, and learn how to mill straight and square pieces. In addition, you’ll get in-depth instruction on laying out and cutting precise mortise and tenon joinery — an essential part of creating a stable, well-built table.

Shaping the Legs

Construct the curved legs of the table with Craig’s guidance. Learn how to use a custom template to lay out the shape of the legs on each blank, then watch Craig’s method of making slow — and exact — cuts. You’ll also discover how to subtly refine the shape of the legs with hand planes.

Dry-Fitting the Table Base

It’s time to test how well your table fits together. Discover an efficient method for marking the orientation of your pieces before checking the fit of each mortise and tenon joint. Need to adjust the size of a tenon? Craig offers simple techniques for making slight modifications.

Building the Top

Focus on creating the tabletop! Craig breaks down the entire process into easy-to-manage steps. See how to lay out the top pieces, then practice creating perfectly tight edge joints using a hand plane. In addition, you’ll learn effective techniques for edge-gluing and flattening the top.

Assembling the Base

Build on the skills you’ve learned as you assemble the base of the table. Learn how to ease the edges of the rails, using a batten and a hand plane to create slightly rounded edges. Craig also demonstrates his process for gluing up the base, ensuring that the joinery is perfectly tight.

Attaching the Top & Finishing

Put the finishing touches on your coffee table! Discover how to position the tabletop on the base to allow for expansion and contraction of the wood. Then learn Craig’s technique for securely anchoring the top to the base. Plus, see how to apply a lovely oil finish to the entire table.