Tina's Table - T.K.D. Woodworking

I had a customer who had a small apartment in Brooklyn, and they wanted a walnut hall table with specific dimensions (50” long but only 9” deep) in order to fit a specific spot in the house. This happens a lot with me with my commissions. Someone has an idea what they want, but they can’t find it in stores or online to match the specific needs that they have. I’m always willing to help with the design and build.

In this case, we had some discussion on the height as well, as they originally were looking for something 36” tall, to match the kitchen countertops. This appeared too “tippy” in my drawing and design, and we finally settled on a 30” height, and a 1-1/2” thick walnut top.

The final design called for a 50” x 9” x 1-5/8” top, four legs, with front and side rails up top. There were only side rails on the lower area and a small 42-1/2” x 5” wide bottom shelf. All the wood would be walnut (which is somewhat pricey right now) with mortise & tenon joinery.

Materials

Part #	Description	T	W	L	Material	Qty
A	Top	1-5/8”	9	50	Walnut	1
B	Legs	1-1/2”	1-1/2”	28-3/8”	Walnut	4
C	Front Rails	¾”	2”	41″	Walnut	2
D	Side stretchers	¾”	2”	5”	Walnut	4
E	Dominos	¼”	½”	1-1/2”	Dominos	18
F	Bottom Shelf	¾”	5”	42-1/2”	Walnut	1
G	Under top supports	¾”	1-3/4”	5-3/4”	Walnut	3

Process steps

Mill the legs, stretchers, rails to final dimensions, using the jointer, planer and tablesaw

Put marking points/triangles on pieces

Layout and cut stub tenons/dominos for legs and rails

Cut grooves in top rails and stretchers for table clips. The table clips help hold the top & bottom on and allow the wood to move. If they were just screwed in, the top might expand at some point and crack.

Sand 100/150/220 grit and add slight chamfer on the top so make it more comfortable to touch

I tried something new here. I chose to Pre-finish Rails, stretchers and shelves. I covered up the mortises with blue tape, and then applied five coats of wipe on polyurethane before I assembled the table. For items that are going to get a lot of wear (like a table) I use poly instead of shellac.