Coffee Table

I wanted something where I could work on my lathe skills (seeing as how I'd never used a lathe before) so I thought a coffee table with turned legs would be just the thing to get me going.

Since I didn't really know what I was doing, I didn't want to waste any money on really nice wood - only to have me botch it on the lathe - so I started this first project out with regular ole' Poplar from Home Depot... They didn't have any square stock so I bought some long pieces of 1" X 2" and glued it up (I had seen Norm do this so I figured I could do it) and sure enough - in the morning - the stuff was held together great - made it through the turning process and everything, so I guess that's a good thing! I had a lot of fun turning the wood and I think I'll be doing more and more of that - it gives you a pretty good feeling to make something on the lathe, it's hard to explain... I guess "rewarding" is the word I'm looking for. I tried hard to make them all the same, but as this was my first time on the lathe I did not accomplish that goal - all of the legs are slightly different from one another with one being VERY different at the top because where I marked for coves were supposed to be beads LOL - oh well, no one will notice right? hehe

I also didn't want to spend too much for the top either, so I bought two pieces of 1' X 4' board and glued them together to make a 2' X 4' table top - this too held together very well! I was skeptical about that gluing process, but it works like a charm! Now I don't have a jointer, so I had to make due with cleaning up the edges with my table saw and sanding... I'll be buying a jointer and planer soon!

without further ado - here's the pictures of the coffee table

The Workshop - Woodworking Projects