I haven't added a woodworking project to this blog in ages. But we needed a triangular-shaped dining table for our mid-century kitchen remodel. We bought a set of banquet style benches, but our rectangular dining table's legs made it hard to get in and out of the banquet benches, and it was also kind of messing with the flow through the room.
Here's the old table. Nevermind the mess in the room:
The plan was to get some plywood, cut it out with a jigsaw, and then use a tulip style base. Very easy. However I made a bit of a mistake at the hardware store. I assumed that the most expensive plywood they had ($130), made from most exotic sounding species I've ever hard of (African Okoume), would be a hardwood. Well it turns out that it's actually very soft, softer than hemlock. I was hoping to finish it with Rubio Monocoat for its superior protection from scratches and water damage, but it would have dented and gauged too easily, so I'll have to use polyurethan instead.
Here's the shape we want for the table, though I did modify it to be more rounded on the hypotenous of the triangle after taking this photo:
I transferred the shape to the plywood with a pencil then began cutting it out with a jigsaw:
I intentionally cut it out a little rough because I knew it would be far from perfect. I then started sanding it with a belt sander starting with 40 grit, then 80, then 120.
That's a little bit better:
I made sure that, when cutting it with the jigsaw, the table top was upside down. This is VERY IMPORTANT because the jigsaw will rip up strips of wood on the surface that is facing up. You can see some of that damage in the above photo.
Another mistake was made, the table I had it on had a screw sticking up. You can see how soft this wood is! I was able to get this dent out with a steam cleaner machine, but it is lightly visible after staining it.
Next I put a chamfer on the bottom edge with a router and a chamfer bit. The plywood was soft so I did it in one pass.
For the top edge, I just sanded that by hand. I didn't want too much of a round-over.
We decided to stain it. This is Varathan's "american walnut" oil-based stain. It really brings out the pink hues in the African Okoume and looks great!
Then I did three coats of polyurethan, sanding between the 2nd and 3rd coat. I think this will be strong enough.
Almost there!
We knew this table really needed a tulip base, but that would have been very difficult for me to make. I would have needed an enormous wood lathe! But Ikea sells these, seperately from the table top, for only around $100.
I used some brass inserts so the base could be bolted to the underside of the table top. This was tricky though, I should have just some screws. But I think it will be much stronger in the long term.
And here's the finished product!
Now I just need to build a matching bench. And a rug...
This was a really easy DIY project and it turned out great! It would have been impossible to find a table like this for sale, so DIY it was.