# Another narrow hall table



## Howard Ferstler (Sep 27, 2007)

On this same site I previously posted some photos (and with lengthy commentary) of a hall table I built using a beat-up coffee table top that had been given to me by my neighbor. The top had been worked over up by his kids for quite a few years, so I had to do considerable refinishing work with my thickness planer and random-orbit sander, and of course manual sanding blocks. I have no idea what kind of wood it was, but it sure looked interesting. Because the rest of the wood used for the table was scrap I had in storage, and the glue, screws, pre-stain and stain were already on hand, the total additional cost of the project was ten bucks, which covered the cost of the paint and clear coating.

Anyway, this second table is similar in principle, although instead of a half-oval shape it has angular cuts near the ends. Like the earlier version this one does have triangular inserts in the ends that were made from the last of the cedar wood I had obtained to build a bunch of clock frames. (The clock project was also illustrated on this picture site a while back.) The wood used for most of the top is maple. I cut four planks from a long board and jointed and then rabbited the edges and then glued the four slightly different width pieces together so that the center seams overlapped enough to give a good four-section joint. I used 24 clamps and wood blocks to make sure that the sections came together uniformly as the Elmer’s Carpenter’s glue dried.

Even so, the seams still show way more than I would like. One reason for this is that the stain I used (the last of the walnut/mahogany mix I put together some time ago with left-over Minwax stain samples) simply could not darken the maple down enough to mask the dark seams. The stain did not darken the wood nearly as much as it did on the earlier project, which tells me that the discarded coffee table top piece used in that project was not maple, or at least the same kind of maple I used this time. The bottom edge of the table top was given an ogee cut with a table-top router and the top was given a simple roundover cut. The stained surface was given three spray coats of Minwax satin urethane. The width of the top is 33 inches, whereas the earlier table was 36 inches. Both this one and the earlier one are ten inches deep.

The undercarriage in this version was, as with the earlier table, made of scrap pine, sanded smooth, given a slight cove routing cut along the bottom edge for interest, and painted satin black. I picked up the short, 2×12 board section for a buck and a half from a scrap-cut pile at Home Depot. It had a split in it, but I could see that the section I needed would bypass that split. I cut it down to a 9-inch width on my table saw and jointed, planed, and sanded it as required.

As with the earlier table the legs were glued into notches cut in the undercarriage piece with my band saw. And as before, each leg section was given several taper bevels on my jointer to both narrow towards the bottom and make a transition from four sides to eight sides as the taper increased. As with the undercarriage section, the legs were painted satin black. Rubber pads are screwed into the leg ends.

I am happy enough with this job and the table, like the other one, with serve as lamp stands in one of our bedrooms. Either would do a good job as a hall table, of course (their proper function), but for now they are doing that bedroom table work. As noted above, while that first table cost me about ten bucks to build, this one cost about $26. Still not bad.

Howard Ferstler


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## garyger (Oct 23, 2008)

WOW..:yes: That is one fine pc. of furniture. I like the ends. They came out great...:thumbsup:


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## bradleywellsoff (Nov 27, 2008)

very nice!


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Looks nice Howard. Good use of recycled wood again. Nice shape and design.
Mike Hawkins


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