Too small for eating? The design of this table works great for a low coffee or side table, but how will it translate when blown up to a full-size dining table?

It all started innocently enough. I wanted to build a small coffee table that would serve as a class project for my students. The design parameters? The table had to be in suitable for beginning woodworkers, buildable in less than a week in a classroom scenario. There would be lots of cool joinery to spark students’ interest as well as heighten their skill levels. And, for aesthetics, I wanted the top to appear to float above the frame. I also wanted to offer students the choice of not gluing up the joints so they could pack the table flat for transport home. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to build a table and then take it apart to show woodworkers how the joints go together.

To this end, I came up with the little coffee table shown here. At roughly 15 in. wide by 24 in. long by 16 in. high, it’s a good size for a small apartment or bedroom. I started by sketching some rough ideas on paper. The sketches gave me a sense of the look and style, and it also provided ideas about how to work out some of the joinery details.

Two-dimensional view comes  first. Pencil to paper lets you jot down ideas that may be floating around in your head.

Once I had an idea of the look, I built a small model using an architect’s ruler to scale the parts to precise size, only smaller. This gave me a proportional look, helping me decide on the thicknesses and widths of the various parts. I highly recommend making scale models: It’s easy to do using scrap wood. You can nail or glue parts together very fast, then alter the parts on the fly if you wish. The end result is a much clearer game plan when you go to mill parts for the real thing, which means fewer mistakes later.

A model helps see the real thing. Some scrap wood and an architect’s ruler help scale the table to a small size.

The joinery on this table is perfect for beginner woodworkers because it involves two of the most common joints used in furniture making: the dovetail and the mortise and tenon. In fact, there are three different varieties of dovetails: hand-cut through dovetails join the legs to the upper frame; sliding dovetails join the top to the braces underneath it; and stopped sliding dovetails join the slats to the lower frame. A wedged through tenon secures the lower stretchers to the legs.

Cut by hand. Traditional through-dovetails join the legs to the top stretchers, and are a great way to practice sawing and chiseling skills.

Slide ‘em home. The cross stretchers (left photo) join the lower stretchers with stopped sliding dovetails, a joint easily cut with a router.  Dovetails on the top of the braces (right photo) slide into sockets routed in the top, supporting the top and keeping it flat.

I cut all the joints, but didn’t glue anything together. This gave me the chance to assemble the table so students could see how it looked, and then disassemble it to show the joinery.

Let it protrude. A pair of wedges tighten the through tenon that pierces the legs.

Take-home option. The design offers the ability to stack the completed table parts relatively flat, easing the burden of shipping.

All well and good. A nice design: challenging, but easy enough to build, and one that will really teach students a lot about designing and building a small table. I was happy with the result and, as far as I was concerned, the project was complete. Or so I thought. That’s when I got a visit from one of the editors at Fine Woodworking.Com, who had seen the table and was interested in the design process.

“Do you think you could enlarge the design so it works as a small desk or dining table?” he asked.

“Umm. Sure. No problem,” I replied.

But there was a problem. I just didn’t know it yet.

Next installment: Trying to make a good design work in a larger size.