Alder Coffee Table

Remember the alder I cut last year?

It is now ready for making furniture. I used the first flitch to make a small coffee table, about 40 cm high. I wanted it to look special, so I chose to assemble with three-way miter joints (sanbo-tome-tsugi in Japanese). I found the design at this address

After trying a mockup in larch, I chickened out and decided to use this joint only for the top (most visible) corners and to do the bottom corners with easier tenons. During the difficult assembly I almost gave up and recut everything smaller. In the end I decided to keep the first try, even though it has some flaws. The top is a single board cut that I cut in two thinner ones (using my frame saw!), then edge-glued for a nice symmetrical effect. Here it is. Overall I am happy with the result.

Detail of the miter joint

Total cost for material: Wood: nothing. Bone glue: a few cents. Bee’s wax: maybe 20 cents. Number of hours? Cost of hand tools? please do not ask.))