Maple and Tile Coffee Table 1

I finally found the motivation to get rolling on the coffee table project I promised my better half...2 years ago. I needed to rearrange the shop to the point where I could dig out the rough maple boards from the bottom of my lumber pile.  I really need to build a proper lumber rack and sheet goods storage....maybe 2 years from now.

The maple boards came from an estate auction of a boat and furniture builder and I was able to snatch them up for a steal, pennies to the board foot.

The boards I chose were around 11 inches wide and 1.5 inches thick.  I was aiming for a 1 inch thick tabletop. The boards were quite bowed and milling them at their full width would have reduced their thickness significantly to get them flat.  For this reason I ripped the boards to 5 and 6 inches wide prior to milling.

 There is a certain satisfaction that comes from taking rough lumber and milling it to furniture quality wood.

Next came the mortises to attach the table top styles to the rails so to speak.  I had planned on routing the mortises on this project but had to change my plans when I realized I did not have a 1/2 inch spiral upcut bit that I needed and I would need to devise some sort of edge guide.  I used a 1/2 inch forstner bit in the drill press to hog out the majority of the material then cleaned it up with a chisel.

Next up will be tenons to fit the mortises and dovetailed/halflapped dividers to hold the tiles that make up a fair portion of the table top.