The convenient thing about our loveseat, is that it has a couple of drink holders built in. The inconvenient thing about our loveseat is the built-in drink holders don't fit coffee mugs with handles, large wine glasses, and they don't have room for cheese plates, chip bowls, or the cat. Sofa tables are pretty common but we wanted something different and more useable. This is what I came up with:
This will coordinate with the magazine caddies I made a while back so this will be made of quarter-sawn white oak as well. The tabletop will consist of bookmatch, shop-made veneer over an MDF blank and will be edge-banded with a bent lamination that also acts as a lip. Two tapered plugs under the top will snugly sit in the drink holders while two curved, tapered leg provide support up front.
The first order of business was to make a pattern and forms. I glued up a 1½-inch thick blank from two pieces of ¾-inch plywood and made a pattern for the tabletop from a scrap of ½-inch plywood. After cleaning up and rough cutting the plywood blank into appropriately sized pieces, I used the pattern to make a clamping form for the laminated edge banding. In turn, I used the form as a pattern to make a clamping caul. I notched the caul for clamping and lined it it with PSA cork, then drilled some holes in the form for clamping.
The oak I selected for the table top had a pretty gnarly looking stub of a branch in it, so I hoped there was something interesting going on inside. But I rough cut the workpiece extra long in case I need to work around it. When I split it to reveal the bookmatch, I was rewarded with some nice crotch figure and a few cracks and voids. I glued the pieces into a panel and filled the open spaces with used coffee grounds and CA (super) glue.
Over the past couple of evenings, I split the panel again, planed them, and rough cut them for the top and bottom veneers. It's in the clamps as I type this.
