Sapele + custom design welded steel legs = awesome side table

[James Dudley]

I'm not sure which forum this should go in, but this seems to make sense.

I have another thread going (re: waterlox) that shows some progress of a kitchen island project I have going on. That is still under way. The wood finishing is done, but it hasn't been put together just yet. And we've yet to remove the wall that'll have to come out to make room for the island!

Anyway, I'm working with 3-inch slabs of sapele for the island, and had a really nice piece of "scrap" from cutting the slabs to size. Clearly, it's not scrap--it's really beautiful wood! I considered making this a shelf in the middle of the island, but it's a little too big, and it's just too nice to use like that. It deserves to be seen.

So I've done several pieces working with black iron pipe and flanges for legs/uprights, and considered going that route for this piece as well. I decided it would make a nice large side table (it's 32" X 42"). But then I figured that maybe I could find someone to weld me some cool legs out of steel.

And THEN..I thought, maybe I can design my own legs! A buddy does some basic welding, and taught me how to do it (stick welding, a 50-year-old machine but it worked fine). So I drew up some kinda funky, cool leg concepts, and went with one that I thought would look cool. I wanted an off-kilter look, but I wanted it sturdy (this is a large, heavy piece of wood). This design delivered both!

So here is the leg design in a sketch:


Uprights in the front are parallel but angled to the side, with the uprights in the back oriented opposite. Connected at the top and bottom. I used 1X3 rectangle box steel, 11 gauge I think (fairly thick).


Here's the steel after I completed the welding.





As you can see, as you change angles looking at the legs, they really change thier look. I've never seen legs done quite like this (though I gotta think someone has done this). But they're sturdy as they can be, and really sturdy as a pair. The table is rock solid!

Here's the finished table (wood is Sapele finished in Waterlox OSF, legs are steel and will be heated and waxed with bowling alley wax to prevent oxidation):











And a quick video walkaround:



So for me personally, this project had a number of firsts:
1st time working with Sapele
1st time working with Waterlox OSF
1st time working with a slab like this (or like the giant ones on the kitchen island)
1st time designing my own table legs
1st time doing any metalworking of any sort
1st time welding

And for all those 1st times.....I'm incredibly pleased with how this came out. I'm not the experienced craftsman that many of you are, I'm just a hobbyist that does some basic stuff with basic woods usually.

Whaddayathink?

[James Dudley]

Here's a walkaround of the wood mockup we did before doing any cutting/welding of the metal.



I would have loved to have cut the ends of the metal at 45 degrees (in addition to the 70 degree angles already there) but we simply didn't have a way to do that. So we butted the pieces together, and put the open ends on the bottom/top. Not ideal, but it's what we could do.

[James Dudley]

Those are shots from tonight in the garage. Flat and flourescent-lit obviously.

The wood really sings in daylight.

Here are a few shots from a few weeks ago.

[James Dudley]

Well that was a disappointing response! Lol.

[Ted Calver]

Hang in there, James. I really like the wood/metal concept and think you did a good job executing. How stable is the result and how are you going to finish the legs?

[James Dudley]

Thanks Ted.

Legs are extremely stable. Because of the uprights alternating angles, and the heaviness of the slab, it simply can't tip. I could stand on the edges and it would be fine.

I cleaned, heated, and waxed the legs today. After a bunch of research into how to seal the legs without an opaque finish, wax was the preferred option. Evidently, it's even used by some high-end furniture shops to protect raw steel.

[Ted Calver]

.....I cleaned, heated, and waxed the legs today. After a bunch of research into how to seal the legs without an opaque finish, wax was the preferred option. Evidently, it's even used by some high-end furniture shops to protect raw steel.

That sounds like it will work. Maybe an occasional touch up and buffing. I was following a discussion on another forum on how to finish the steel. I guess film forming finishes will yellow over time and blasting makes the finish look gray.

[Bill Munroe]

James, I don't normally visit the design forum, but I'm glad I did today! Your table is beautiful. Most of my stuff has been relatively small scale CNC or laser work, but I've got access to a complete metal fab shop. You've inspired me to bigger things!

[Kent A Bathurst]

I remember that slab from the finishing forum - you were struggling with... ? ? ? ....something.

Looks like that bit got well-sorted.

Nice design.

[James Dudley]

Thanks Bill. I really enjoyed the process of making this piece. I had never worked with metal fab before, in any fashion. Nor had I ever tried to design non-traditional legs of any sort. So this was all new to me. But it seems to have worked out really well. I'm very, very pleased.

Kent: yeah, I had a thread where I was having issues with Waterlox beading up nearing the end of my finishing schedule. After some cussing, sanding, and a bit more finishing, everything turned out right. But it was actually my kitchen island, which is still in process, that suffered the issue. This piece, which is fairly large at 32X42X3, is actually the "scrap" from the end of the 9-footX4-foot-plus slab that was cut down to size for the island top. A slightly thinner (2 inch) slab was used for the bottom/lower level.

This piece, for whatever reason, never suffered that same issue. Though I started later on it, so it didn't receive the thinned coat that I think was the source of the problem on the larger slabs.

I'll post pics of that when it's complete. After doing these custom-designed legs, I'm really half-tempted to do some new metalwork for the island. But I've already spent money on black iron pipe and flanges, so it really wouldn't make too much sense at this point. I think. We'll see.

[James Dudley]

A pic w/the table in its natural habitat.

The walls are VERY orange in my studio (detached garage), so getting a well-balanced image (color-wise) is hard. But it is what it is, eh?

[Mark Bolton]

I think its a neet concept. It leaves me wondering what the legs may look like opposing or interwoven as opposed to both knocked in the same direction.

I didnt see it in your post but assuming you just poked a couple holes in the box tubing for some lags/screws into the top for attachment. For personal use I can imagine it is fine but I think as a general rule there is a common consensus/fear of attaching any leg (even with the skew) with lags or screws. Even with the skewed legs the leverage against the fasteners over time can be great. Cheap insurance (what most furniture folks seem to do) is to tie the legs together under the top with a couple flat bars and attach them that way. Making the legs a somewhat self-standing component and not relying on the top for any lateral support so to speak.

Sure seems like it could be a great first step in an evolution of the theme... pretty neet for sure.

[James Dudley]

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the feedback. Each of the legs has a cross member on the top just like the bottom. They're a complete "square" (obviously angled a bit). I may add a cross member between the top cross members on each leg, which would then unite them and lock them into their angles respective to each other. For now, I decided to wait on that until I'm sure that I want to keep the legs at these angles.

As I said before, as the legs are turned, their look changes quite a bit. So I wanted to have the option to change them in the short term.

Each leg, as they are now, are extremely stable on thier own. Each has a nice, flat 3-inch wide surface at the top to attach to the wood top, and are secured by 5 half-inch (wide) x 2.5-inch long lag bolts with large, heavy-duty washers (1.25-inch washers I think). The Sapele is quite strong and hard, and it would take an enormous amount of force to cause issues even with the current mounting setup.

As I noted, since the top cross member and the bottom cross member on each leg are NOT parallel, they lend each other support as far as rolling. The bottom one would want to roll on one plane, but the top resists because it is angled to that plane. And vice versa.

If I were selling this to a customer, I'd add that cross member, which would simply lock in everything to the point that you could jump up and down on the frame without the wood top at all. I may do that even for this piece at some point, but we'll see.

I've enjoyed this project so much that I've kinda considered whether or not it's something I want to try to do on a small commercial level--making cool designs and working with local galleries and showrooms to feature them. Easier said than done I'm quite sure.

[James Dudley]

Oh yeah--forgot to reply to one part of your post.

I considered having the legs be made opposite one another. I think it would look quite nice in that format as well, honestly. It would just be different from this effect. The cool thing about this leg design is how you can get a number of different looks w/the legs by turning them, and/or by making them at the opposite angle. Of course, that base angle decision has to be made during fabrication.

But since the original concept was to have the front legs angled parallel, giving it an off-kilter look by design, I went with that. But I agree that a balanced symmetrical look would be nice as well.

[Mark Bolton]

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the feedback. Each of the legs has a cross member on the top just like the bottom. They're a complete "square" (obviously angled a bit). I may add a cross member between the top cross members on each leg, which would then unite them and lock them into their angles respective to each other. For now, I decided to wait on that until I'm sure that I want to keep the legs at these angles.

As I said before, as the legs are turned, their look changes quite a bit. So I wanted to have the option to change them in the short term.

Each leg, as they are now, are extremely stable on thier own. Each has a nice, flat 3-inch wide surface at the top to attach to the wood top, and are secured by 5 half-inch (wide) x 2.5-inch long lag bolts with large, heavy-duty washers (1.25-inch washers I think). The Sapele is quite strong and hard, and it would take an enormous amount of force to cause issues even with the current mounting setup.

As I noted, since the top cross member and the bottom cross member on each leg are NOT parallel, they lend each other support as far as rolling. The bottom one would want to roll on one plane, but the top resists because it is angled to that plane. And vice versa.

If I were selling this to a customer, I'd add that cross member, which would simply lock in everything to the point that you could jump up and down on the frame without the wood top at all. I may do that even for this piece at some point, but we'll see.

I've enjoyed this project so much that I've kinda considered whether or not it's something I want to try to do on a small commercial level--making cool designs and working with local galleries and showrooms to feature them. Easier said than done I'm quite sure.

I agree with you that the legs being a full frame, and then being skewed, makes them very strong. I think the general concern in the furniture world is that when you connect the legs to the slab, and allow for some seasonal movement, there is some slack there than can amplify over time and the table can become wobbly. If any wobble happens it usually gets worse pretty quickly. Its just a CYA thing in that if the legs are self supporting and the top is allowed to move slightly the table will remain completely stable structurally.

I can honestly say if I were building this table for my own use I would likely omit the flat bar cross members too but was just making the point that super freaky stuff can happen when your dealing with the public and its better to be prepared. Anyone selling furniture on the open market will hopefully have a liability policy protecting them but its better to not have to think about relying on it.

I agree with your second post that you have a bunch of options with regards to the leg orientation. I was wondering about an interwoven orientation where the two legs are skewed to a point where the members pass through each other (like a figure 8 so to speak). Could get structuraly complicated.

This steel and slab design is very common in many of the galleries I visit. It would definitely be worth quantifying your costs and see what some shops think they could retail them for. In my experience it tends to get difficult when you put pen to paper but hopefully you post your progress.

Good Luck