Making the Coffee Table

The making of the coffee table have been the most challenging and time consuming process of my exhibition pieces.

I finally had my lovely bit of elm and it felt like sacrilege to carve into it! I took a long time decided where to cut the elm and wire to inlay as this would dictate the size of the legs. The legs end up having to be larger than I would of like by it is kind of the point that the wood designs the table. I began carving with a palm tool and then deepen with a dremel. If more of these tables were to be made I would have to find another method of creating the grooves for the wire inlay as dremelling is very time consuming and the constant vibrations are not good for my hands. Next, I hammered the aluminium wire with alradite. I now wish I had been far less messy in applying the araldite as having to sand it all off was not fun.

Next came my nemesis of the term; the folded sheet legs. I did strongly look into getting the externally made but the price was too high. This was very annoying as I wasted a lot of time where I could have just made them myself to begin with.

Dallas kindly altered the folder to accommodate my thicker 2.5mm sheet. It bent relatively will with the help of a blow torch. The tricky thing was catching the bend at exactly 90 degrees.

Next came attaching the legs to the table. I managed to get some bolts with inserts so that the legs could be removed for potential ease of delivery. I cut some 2mm sheet (I forgot to order some 2.5 for this) so act as tabs. The were easy to cut and drill into, the problems came whilst sanding. You see, in my effort to prevent scratching the alumium I used black duct tape. However, the MIG welder reacted badly to this tape and the welds ended up causing damage. Aluminium is a awkward metal to use because of its softness. Its bends easily but likewise scratches and get damaged easily which is not ideal for furniture I would have like to used steel but in my wire inlay test steel was unsuccessful.

Perhaps they were not as I would have liked them but the legs were made. Now came attaching them. The inserts were tricky to get in because of elm’s hardness but I manged in the end. I actually only ended up use two holes and holes for end like rather than the five that I had drilled as I found two was perfectly strong enough.

Then came the moment of truth…

TADA!

I am really happy with it. I used a natural danish oil to finish to emphasise the grain. My worries that the warp in the wood would stop one of the legs from touching the floor didn’t materialise but there is a chance it still could. Proportional wise the legs are a little big for my liking as mentioned earlier and I feel it could have been made a little lower.

Making the Stool

During the making process of my first stool, I stumbled upon a few problems which has now resulted in the first stool becoming the only stool. A second round stool with four equally spaced was intended to show the adaptability of my design but time has caught up far too quickly for it to be made. Nonetheless, below is the documentation of making the square, 3 legged, asymmetric stool.

I began by carefully marking out where to mortise either side. When it came to mortising, I didn’t go as deep as needed as I knew I would need to tidy up and remove more wood with a chisel later on. Later on however I severely wished I had taken more off with the mortiser! Next I cut the top connectors with the band saw. I inlayed the wire before I cut out the mortises here as I was worried they wouldn’t be strong enough to withstand being hammered. I cut a spare test connector and was very grateful I did because the join ended up being to tight and breaking the connector. This meant I had to chisel out more material from the seat mortises. This then later cause the join to not be a flush as I would have liked and most of the wire having to be removed and re-inlayed afterwards. I seemed to have a tendency to obsess about perfect join so much which mean I don’t removed quite enough material which in the end causing the same amount of problems as removing too much! I also found that the araldite did not sand away as well on ash, particular on the end grain. I wish I have been less messy in it’s application.

Next I cut the rest of the connectors. This was a relatively easy but fiddly job. If I was not running so close to the wire I would have had all the connectors CNC’d.

I then cut the aluminium box section to size. I cut a little over size to allow me to sand the ends perfectly. Next came more sanding, a lot more sanding; clean the aluminium. I went up to 2000 grit wet and dry and clean with Silvo and wax but it still didn’t could up to the finish I would have liked. Again, if I had more time I would have ordered polished ali rather than buying from a local trade store.

Then came where it all went wrong… Glueing together the base started well; they fitted well, I kept checking everything was square and avoided dirtying up the metal and wood by handling. It was the legs where problems began. I glued up and consisted checked everything was square, but when the whole stool was together, it was slightly wonky. I couldn’t believe it it after how much I had squared every join. I tried to apply pressure to straighten everything up but I ended up applying to much and snapping many of my connectors. This resulted in a very stressed me having to botch up the joins with lots of glue and clamping. Doing this much handling ruined all of the previous effort I had gone to avoid dirtying the wood and metal and it still ended up wonky! To be quite honest I was gutted. There is a point where you fiddle too much and you end up ruin things and I really need to learn to stop before reaching that point.

It is hard for me to be objective about this piece as it is a week later and it still greatly bothers me. I am happy with its form and general aesthetic, just not the execution.

Process Videos

The Stool – Planing the Ash

The Stool – Chiseling the Tenons (x4)

The Coffee Table – Making Initial Grooves with a Palm Tool

The Coffee Table – Deepening with a Dremel

Making the Tool Handles

After my first attempt at making my tool handles with walnut was unsuccessful, I later began work using elm and ash. Before I did this however I meticulously deciding what proportions to use. I already knew I wanted two different sizes but that both sizes should be the same proportion, so I needed to work out how many sections of wood to comprise each hand out out, the handle lengths and taper. To do this I measured the size of the current handles of the tools I planned to use and the width of the tangs. In the end I decided on six sections (including the collar) and measurements shown in the drawing below.

My first job making wise was to cut the ash and elm into sections with altering grain directions and gorilla glued together. When cutting I added 5mm to the overall width to account for any turning slightly off centre. Turning did take quite a while as I had to keep continually checking the width and taper with digital calipers. It went relatively smoothly though; my only problem was turning unhappy end grain. I turned out a rebate at the narrow end of each handle to wrap around the wire collars. Then came the tricky part; inlaying the wire. I knew from my prototype handle that inlaying round surfaces was far more fiddly and so I hand a bunch of clamps and the ready.

First I had to find inlay paths from the centre of the wide end to the collar section through the wood grain. I tried to find the most interesting meandering pattern possible but some turned out a bit straighter then I would have liked. Once I had found a path I carved and dremelled it out. Here I also had to carefully carved out the slanted edges of the collar rebate.

I chose slightly thinner wire to inlay the tools due to their small size. This caused me to carve out grooves a little too wide as I was used to 1.25mm wire rather than 1mm. The hardest part to inlay was the wrapped collars as it was difficult to create enough tension and each end of the wire. I found the best way to do it was with two clamps and turning these in opposing directions.

I kept the turning ends of the handles one until the wire was inlayed so I could put them back on the lathe to sand. My small brass and ash handle was the most troublesome through making; I had to re-inlaying it twice because of the wire snapping and then it becoming unstuck whilst sanding. Aside from this the wood and wire sanded down well.

Next came drilling the holes for the tool tangs. This turned out to be easier than I initially thought. I grips the handles in a chuck on the lathe and centred them by hand. I then inserted the required drill bit into the tail stock and slowly turned this into the handles. Just like sanding grits, I went in stages; drilling smaller to large. It is best to drill the hole a little bit too small for the shank to create a tight fit. Once I hand drilled all the holes I could remove the turning ends and finish the inlay. I then sanded all of the handles down finer with 500 grit paper.

After my finishing tests, I decided a natural danish oil was the best to use. It darkens the wood a little but emphasises the grain very well.

Here are the finished tools! I am really happy with them; they are beautiful (if I do say so myself) as well as functional. Some have a few little mistakes but that is the nature of hand-made objects. There is a lovely irony of hand-made handles on hand tools.

Material Suppliers

Tyler Hardwoods

Just outside of Swindon is where I finally got my lovely piece of elm for the coffee table. The staff were all very patient while I spend hours choosing and they had great choice. I also had the wood machined here.

Wentwood Timber

A more local timber centre with local UK timber. Very well priced!

Isca Crafts

The most local hardwood supplier but a little more pricey and a smaller selection as it is aimed more at wood crafts rather than furniture. I got my ash for the stools here.

CG Rees

A great metal supplier just up the road from me. Trade prices but the metal can get a bit battered. I bought the aluminium box section for my stools here.

aluminiumwarehouse.co.uk

I ordered the 2.5mm aluminium sheet for my coffee table from here. Order can be very helpfully cut to size and I found nowhere cheaper.

wires.co.uk

All the wire your heart could desire!

Display Heights

I have been putting a lot of thought recently into the most appropriate heights to display my work.

First off, my tools. These are the only wall mounted pieces I have to display. The viewing distance for these will be very close, approximately 50cm, and so, it is important I hang them at average eye level. My audience will mainly be UK adults who I have been the ergonomics of. According to the Office of National Statistics, the average height for a UK male is 5ft 9 and woman is 5ft 3. This gives an overall average of 66 inches. This however is not the correct eye level height, this will be slightly lower. From my research I have found 58 inches as a well agreed upon eye level to display wall mounted pieces. 58 inches should be measured from the centre of the piece.

Diagram via stellersgallery

Deciding the most appropriate display height for my furniture has been more difficult. Obviously displaying at 58″ would require a ridiculously over-sized plinth and would also remove the furniture from it’s practical context. My pieces (a bedside table, a stool and a coffee table) are all low in height due to the context of their use. This does however result in a difficult display; I do not want viewers to have to struggle to see the detail in the work. I have for a while been decided on low plinths for the stool and bedside table and just a painted white sheet of wood on the floor for the coffee table. I decided this as the size of the coffee table would require an overly large plinth. I feel a white wood sheet is important however as the concrete floor is unlevel and the grey colour needs to be seperated from the grey of my aluminium legs.

To decide what height to make the plinths for the bedside table and stool, I have been looking back through furniture exhibitions I have seen in the past. It is unfortunate that I am from working from memory and photographs now so I can only estimate the display heights.

Furniture Exhibition at the V&A, 2016 (own photographs).

The majority of furniture at the V&A was display on large black bases (approx. 30cm high) with smaller white plinths (approx. 10cm).

Zoe Murphy at Tent, 2014 (images via littletree-blog and tevami).

Zoe Murphy’s plinths were all rather low (approx 15cm), apart from the one she has used to display bedside tables in the right image which I estimate to be 45cm.

Royal Paviloion and Brighton Museum, website images, 2014

Brighton Museum (image via brightonmuseums). The World of Charles and Ray Eames, The Babican, 2016 (image via dezeen).

A furniture display at Brighton museum comprises of stepped levels (25cm, 50cm,75cm approx.) The large tables on which Eames furniture was displayed at the Barbican was rather high, I estimate 70cm. In my opinion these were too high; the furniture felt detached as if artwork, rather than objects to be used.

From this research I have concluded my plinths will be between 30-40cm high. I think it best to er on the side of caution with lower plinths. I will finalise this measurement when I have a better idea of my space and how the stool and the bedside table relate to the height of the coffee table once it is constructed. I have been toying with the idea of having a higher plinth for the stool so that it equals in overall height with the bedside table. I am deciding against this as I think it is important that the pieces express their different heights to reflect their purpose.

Warping Woes

The very variable temperature up in our studio is making my lovely wood very unhappy. Both the ash for the stools and elm for the coffee table have started to warp. I thought about story them downstairs but I figured as the wood would end up here anyway for exhibition it seemed best to sort out the warp now. Besides, I have to work on both outside of workshop ours. To reduce the warping I have been continually weighting the wood and very occasionally spritzing with water.

The warping in both does seem to be improving, I just mainly worry that the legs of my coffee table will not sit flush to the floor because of it.