Creating Coffee Tables

Designing and making a coffee table represents a unique project for the craftperson, offering the reward and satisfaction of building a beautiful and yet fairly simple piece of furniture. A coffee table project requires forethought and planning. It also helps to develop confident handskills and the attitude to do one's best, especially for someone just beginning to explore furniture making. Creating Coffee Tables: An Artistic Approach takes the novice as well as the advanced woodworker through a fully illustrated step-by-step process from design to applying a finish. Drawing from his study at the renowned College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking Program, cabinetmaker and author Craig Vandall Stevens takes the craftsperson through the sequence of events necessary to design and build a coffee table. 350 detailed photographs illustrate selecting and laying out lumber, the use of woodworking machines and handtools, sharpening, milling and preparing parts, joinery, resawing and making sawn veneers, shaping with handtools, assembly, and choosing and applying a finish.