How to build a live edge river table with glass inlay

click to begin

Youtube

Today we build a river table from firewood.
Recently it seems to be mandatory for all makers to build at least one river table.
So we will replace this traditionally made table with a modern river table design.
It's a small size dollhouse table - which makes it easy to put it into storage when
the trend is over.
I start with this small piece of yellow plum firewood that I cut in thin strips on the
bandsaw.Between each cut I take a pass over the jointer and sand the face smooth on the
belt . This way it's easier to hold the wood safely.
With more sanding I also sand the other face smooth.
It's the first time that I'm building model size furniture so if you have any advice
please leave a comment.
Next I cut one of the middle pieces in half to create the table top.
I mark the area of the table top and cut the sides with the bandsaw and plan them straight
with a block plane.
The crosscuts are made with a handsaw.
I got a few glass offcuts and trace the rough shape of the bark to the glass.
Using a drop of oil and a glass cutter I follow the lines.
If you have a high quality cutter, press the cutter down firmly and cut in one pass you
should be able to break the glass easily along the line.
By destroying a belt on my belt sander I break the sharp edges of the glass and remove minor
bumps.
To transfer the shape of the glass to the wood I firmly attach it with double stick
tape to a piece of thin plywood that should become my template.
I am very careful to not touch the glass with the router bit's blade.
As the plywood is too shallow to support my guide bushing I copy the shape to a thicker
piece of ply.
Next I cut my shape using two different combinations of guide bushings and routerbits.
The first combination is a 5mm router bit with a 17mm guide bushing.
This combination cuts a slot in a distance of 11mm from my template edge.
With a scroll saw I connect the two slots and create one pocket.
With a 30mm bushing and a 8mm router bit I cut in a distance of 11mm from the template
edge and thus should create a pocket that is identical to the size of my original piece
of glass.
Before screwing the template in place I carefully check that the bark is everywhere at the same
distance from the template edge.
I use the glass itself to set the depth of the router and route out the pocket.
While this method worked perfectly in my mind I ended up with an undersized pocket.
I actually was not able to identify the problem - either I've picked the wrong bit or there's
an error in my reasoning.
If you have an idea please leave a comment.
I can nevertheless assemble the tabletop - i's just a bit wider than originally planned.
From the rest of the firewood I cut a few narrow boards and sand them smooth.
With a Japanese handsaw I cut the boards at an angle of 5 degree according to my drawing.
You could most likely get away with a simple butt joint but I decided to improve the stability
with a hal flap joint at each corner.
Cutting such a small joint and pairing them with a chisel is quite a challenge.
The legs are then glued together and everything gets a coat of spray lacquer.
The table is assembled with a little bit of super glue.
I like the wood of the yellow plum for the table as it resembles sand.
It was a fun project and I will submit this to the firewood challenge at the woodworking
subreddit.
If you are interested in a variety of other - mostly larger size - projects please subscribe
to my channel.
Follow me on Instagram for a look at future projects.
How to Make a Resin River Table Using Clear Epoxy Casting Resin DIY Side Table | Made from one sheet of plywood Live Face Bench A Bowlful of Magnolia DIY mortise jig for loose tenon joinery with the router from scrapwood [Free plans] Traditional German joinery with a 3dprinted jig DIY Modern Live Edge Wall Clock // How To - Woodworking DIY 3dprinted mortise jig for loose tenon joinery with the router [Free plans] DIY Portable Foldable Desk From One Sheet of Plywood Live Edge Wood Slab, Casting with Metallic Epoxy.

How to build a live edge river table with glass inlay - for a dollhouse

Latest Posts