I talked to my room-mates about what they might like to have in a coffee table. And I thought about what I would like. Also, about what I would like to build. Ideas were generated.
The final concept took for granted the use of a natural edged section of cherry that Adam offered. (And the partially-milled pieces of pine to its left.)
I wanted to preserve the natural edges, but was concerned about the leg injury hazard of exposing the edges to pedestrians. I decided to turn two edges in on themselves and create a second table layer in the gully between them. I began to think about it as a river valley or canyon and realized that by using the wider face of the cherry slab as the table-top, the undercut on the natural edge could be utilized as a handle which would, in turn, encourage the owner/users to further explore the edges with their fingertips as well as their eyes.
I sketched the concept a bit at home:
Then, not wanting to bring in my sketchbook, I did some new sketches at the shop:
Adam was encouraging, but suggested I build a quick model in SketchUp to get a better idea of the dimensions I would be working with (the materials pictured were just available contrasting Paint Bucket options; they bear no reflection on my choice of actual materials):
The SketchUp model allowed us to discuss the details a bit better and when I decided to use hardwood and reclaimed materials for a frame and panel construction, I did a few more sketches:
I'm considering wooden hinges:
Then created an organized page of dimensions and required materials:
Used that to put together my cut list then started cutting some of the pine timbers to approximate dimensions (after yanking a few stray nails):
That's what I've got so far. It's a slow process and I have done most of the work in small chunks before and after work. Adam has also given me (14, 15?) Oak Kneelers that he was given from a (demolished? renovated?) Church for the panels in the body of the table. I pulled them from the bottom of the rack, under 1/16th inch of dust and riddled with long staples, short screws, and covered with the remains of an adhesive-backed padding. So far I've pulled the staples out of half of them. I'll take pictures as they improve.
If you just curve those two bottom cross pieces, your coffee table could double as a baby's cradle.
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