Zebra coffee table

[Mark Singer]

I have been working on a zebra coffee table. Its about 36 x 80". I carefully selected the boards at the yard . They are all cut from one tree and I managed to find a book matched pair with an "Eye" and placed it dead center in the width. Good design is dependendent on careful selection of materials and use. The sides and short ends are built up from a rip miter. The Sawstop and Boardbuddies yielded perfect results and everything is dead on at 90 degrees with no gaps. The board buddies play an inportant part keeping the material flat on the table giving a consistent cut. The end miters were cut on the bandsaw and with great accuracy as well using my auxialary table and a miter gauge a couple of clamps and keeping my finger crossed
The sort end cap pieces cannot be glued since the wood will want to expand and zebra moves a bit... So they are held by splines that will be wenge as I reach the next stage. These were also cut on the bandsaw and the waste remove with a chisel and mallet. Notice the wedge paring technique. With the short ends held in clamps for alignment only...no glue the long side were glued this morning.
This project is simple enough with plenty of places to screw up if your not careful. Rip miter glue ups are a key technique in furniture making as is the splined miters so there is some new stuff here

[Mark Singer]

a few more pics

[Jim Becker]

Yum! That has a lot of character and your mitered rips are perfect for maintaining the linear look that the zebrawood grain provides. Very Nice!!!

[Dave Ray]

Another beautiful project Mark, please keep the pix and info coming as you progress. We learn from you.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Mark,
From your pics, the surface of the zebrawood appears to be tear-out free. How did you accomplish that?
-Jeff

[Zahid Naqvi]

Ah! the perfect mitre, perhaps one of these days.

[Mark Singer]

Mark,
From your pics, the surface of the zebrawood appears to be tear-out free. How did you accomplish that?
-Jeff

Jeffery,
The top is glued up from boards un sanded or scraped....upon close inspection htere is the normal zebra tear out. I am going to take this baby to South Coast Sanding and let the big Cemco drum sander do its thing..,..Then I will do the fine sanding and detailind in my shop. He goes to 120 grit.

[James Carmichael]

Purty!

Just make sure those zebras use coasters when it's done

[Roy McQuay]

I love your posts. You take ordinary things and make them into extraordinary furniture. Thank you for sharing.

[John Schreiber]

I'm sure I'm missing something, because I've not seen Mark miss anything yet. It looks like the mitres will open and close as the table expands and contracts.

What am I missing?

[Dan Forman]

Going to be a realy beauty!. That's quite the bandsaw setup to do that miter.

Dan

[Nancy Laird]

Mark, that is going to be a STUNNING table when finished. I love that wood anyway, and you have really showed off that grain and wood. I'm anxious to see it finished.

Nancy

[Paul Simmel]

>>> I'm sure I'm missing something, because I've not seen Mark miss anything yet. It looks like the mitres will open and close as the table expands and contracts.

What am I missing?

-=-=-=-

Ditto that.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Yep, that's going to be one sweet looking coffee table. Keep it up!

[Mark Singer]

I'm sure I'm missing something, because I've not seen Mark miss anything yet. It looks like the mitres will open and close as the table expands and contracts.

What am I missing?

John,
Good question. With solid wood construction versus veneer we must always deal with wood movement. This joint is like a contol joint in construction of a building....yes its there and you see it and you know that is where the movement will occur...like sawcuts in a concrete slab. The last table I made like this employed a bridal joint and a screw from the bottom. To the eye the joint never opened. The table surface stayed dead flat as it was free to move and only rested on hidden stretchers. Here the short sides are free and the miter and short sides are not glued, but instead the spline is only glued to one side and loose on the other. In detailing the joint , I slightly round the edges to disguise the surface interface. Now miters will show about 50 less movement since the direction of movement is 45 degrees to the joint surface. By comparison a breadboard end sees 100% differential. This type of joint works well for KD construction as well , like beds for example. A single screw secures the joint. See this project for wood movement on a similar table.

http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.p...eruvian+walnut