Coffee Table Legs

A client brought a tabletop to me that he had been storing in his garage for a few years. It was a couple of inches thick, about 2-½ by 3 feet, and made from walnut and white oak. He wanted legs added to it to use it for a coffee table in front of the fireplace on the covered patio behind his house.

I milled some 8/4 walnut and laminated pieces together to create leg blanks about 3 inches square and 15 inches long. The goal was for a finished height of the table of 16 to 18 inches. I tapered two faces of each leg on the jointer using the technique I learned by watching this video from Bent’s Woodworking.

After the legs had all been cut to their final length and tapered, I applied a 1/8 inch round over to all edges and sanded all the faces. I drilled holes in the center of the bottoms of each leg to accept the furniture levelers shown below.

I used the levelers to make sure that the client could account for any variation in the concrete surface of his patio and also to ensure that the wood would not be in direct contact with the ground.

I made cleats from walnut and attached the legs to the cleats and attached the cleats to the underside of the tabletop.

The client was not sure what sort of finish had been applied to the tabletop. It appeared to me that some sort of oil had been used. Since it had been stored in his garage for a few years, it needed to be cleaned. I used compressed air and wiped it down well. I then scrubbed it a couple of times with mineral spirits and finally applied a fresh coat of tung oil. This significantly improved the appearance of the top.

I applied two coats of tung oil to the legs and then assembled the table. It sat in my shop for a couple of months until the client picked it up to give to his wife on her birthday. She loved it and thought it was the perfect compliment to their outdoor living area.