Luis SatBox Table

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StartDate: 
Jul 15 2011 to Jul 31 2011
Finished project?: 
Yes
Small table for my father-in-law's TV electronics
Work History: 

This was actually my quickest full project ever. Yes, it's a small piece, without any real complications such as drawers or stretchers, but finishing something like this in less than a couple weeks is a major accomplishment for a hobbyist with a young family. 

I started out trying to do a design in Sketchup. I did manage to work out the basics there. They said they didn't want a drawer, so I offered to build it with a slot in the back where they could hide the extra cables and cords of the electronics. I finally ended up doing the dimensions on a scratchpad, which was actually what I worked from. (Doing dimensioning and joinery in Sketchup seems more work than its worth, unless the project reaches a certain level of complexity. This project was well south of that line.)

The legs are poplar in the back and oak for the front two, the bottom is a piece of baltic birch plywood. Everything else was from a couple of very clear planks of poplar that were probably sitting around the farm for 40 years.  After doing the glue up for the sides and the top, I realized that the top had beautiful grain, even though it was poplar. I asked Luis if he would mind if I tried to stain it to look like cherry instead of painting the top white. He agreed. When I did it, I was surprised at how well it turned out.

The top of this little table is about the best looking wooden surface I've done yet. The bottom of the piece was primed and spray painted a semi-gloss white. The top was a MinWax stain/poly blend that I did in one coat, sanded until it was mostly gone, and then put two full coats on top. Then I followed with a couple coats of wipe on polyurethane.

Design Notes: 

In a way, this is just a re-dimensioned version of the Hall Table I did a couple years back. The aprons are wider and the top is smaller, but it's the same structure. The aprons join to the legs with mortise and tenon joints. The top is attached by screwing up through corner blocks in the base. The legs are all tapered on two sides, starting just below the aprons. 
 

Afterthoughts: 

It's a simple design, but I love the way this one turned out. Plus it looks really good in its final location, just to the right of my in-laws fireplace, holding up a cable receiver box. And the cable hiding area has turned out to be useful and handy at hiding the xtra cords.

Project Files: 
AttachmentSize
File Table Design-3.skp41.53 KB