instructables

End Grain Plywood End Table With Laminated Legs

by petachock

I had an idea the other week about using plywood

with the ends exposed on the faces of an end table
and started to think about what legs I could have on
the table. I had come across a few mad looking tables Supplies:
and chairs on Pinterest which used strips of wood
M a t e ria ls
spread out at one end and laminated/glued together
Plywood for the main table
at the other which I thought would look ideal on this
Stirps of di ernet wood for the legs (I used oak and
table.
sapele as I had some already)
Oil
One of the tables that I kept on seeing was this one
which forms the top of a table. For my rst attempt at
To o ls
something similarly large to this may have been too
Table and band saw
ambitious so a set of small legs would be a perfect
Sander
start.
Hand plane

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Step 1: Make the Plywood Panels
I started o by collecting loads of o cuts of plywood I
had in my workshop, mainly to use up them all up, as I
had quite a few left over from the past few months.
I ripped the plywood to a thickness of 22mm (7/8") on
the table saw and then cut them to the 270mm (10.5")
long. In total I had over 50 pieces of the plywood
strips.
I sorted through the plywood to nd the pieces with
the least amount of holes (the ply I had was not the
End Grain Plywood End Table With Laminated Legs: Page 2
best quality). I then sorted through them again to nd
the best ones which I used for the top surface.
To glue them I turned all but the last piece on it's side
and glued all the pieces at the same time, clamped
them together and waited around an hour to dry
before unclamping and going on to the next panel.
Once they were all done I cleaned then up and
squared them o on the table saw.
Step 2: Make the Main Table
So for the end of the table look it's best I decided to
go for a mitred joint as this would retain symmetry
and look most pleasing to the eye.
I set the blade on my table saw to 45 degrees using a
digital angle meter and cut the edges of each panel.
There were a few places, near the points, where part
of the plywood lamination had split o but I would
deal with this later with the detailing/design
features/mistake covering up (they are all similar and
generally interchangeable for me!). I also cut a part 45
End Grain Plywood End Table With Laminated Legs: Page 3
degree on what would be the front face to add a nice
planned detail.
I then cut some holes using a biscuit jointer to add
strength to the mitres followed by sanding the
internal surface to 180 grit as this would be less
accessible later on.
Once sanded I glued the edges and clamped with a
band clamp and a few F clamps.
Step 3: Plan the Legs

I started planning the legs on CAD so I could visualise than an inch so I thought that would most likely be
the proportions and angles the strips would make ne.
through the main body. After a few iterations I came
up with some spacings which looked nice and which I I then transferred the measurements to the sides of
thought I could cut without any massive chunks the table body, marking them on with pencil.
falling o . The gap between the bottom cuts were less
End Grain Plywood End Table With Laminated Legs: Page 4
 Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FV1/Y8DN/KFS9BUXG/FV1Y8DNKFS9BUXG.pdf

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F0R/XU2N/KFS9BUXH/F0RXU2NKFS9BUXH.dwg

Step 4: Cutting the Slots

My next dilemma was cutting the slots for the legs. I
had a few ideas and originally decided to use a router,
guiding it against a fence (clamped bit o wood). I
started setting this up but it would mean that the
router would be fairly high up and it didn't feel quite
right. Then in the middle of setting it up I thought I'd
look in to using a cross cut sled so started setting that
up as well. Once it was set up, I managed to clamp
and wedge the table body in to a fairly stable position,
so went for this option instead.
On my cross cut sled I have slots cut for hold down
clamps which really helped in this case and could
generally clamp the body down and wedge two sides
in to place. Some cut positions were easier to stabilise
than others but I managed to cut them all safely.
To cut the slots I did two passes, the rst one was
quite shallow (2 to 3mm deep) followed by a full
depth cut. I was hoping to minimise tear out, which I
didn't get, so maybe it worked, or maybe I could have
just gone full depth rst of all and still got minimal
tear-out?
The rst slot was the worse one as the rst cut moved
to the main table body, so I had to reposition/re-
clamp before cutting again. As it happened the
second cut was slightly o so the slot was wider for
the rst couple of millimetres. All but one other one
cut ne with no problems.

End Grain Plywood End Table With Laminated Legs: Page 5

 1

1. Extra wide slot....grrrr

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Step 5: Cutting and Fitting the Leg Strips
The next step was to set up the bandsaw to make cuts
slightly wider than the table saw blade. I set the fence
on the bandsaw and took several cuts on some scrap
wood, making small adjustments as I went until the
strips were as wide as I wanted them.
I wanted them slightly wider as I would need to sand
the strips to a nice nish as part of each strip would
be visible. This also allowed me to have tighter joints
End Grain Plywood End Table With Laminated Legs: Page 7
as I could plane, sand and test t as I went along, it
was quite laborious though. When I was happy with
the t I left that strip in the slot and went on to the
next one.
I then removed the strips and numbered them so I
could t them back in to the same slot when gluing
up.
Step 6: Gluing Legs - Step One

The rst step was to glue all the strips in to the slots. I didn't use much glue as it wasn't required since the joints
were already very tight. Any excess glue would only lead to more dry glue to contend with.

No clamping was needed either so progress was relatively swift.

End Grain Plywood End Table With Laminated Legs: Page 8

Step 7: Gluing Legs - Step Two

So may plan for the legs was to have the bottom of all the legs in the same place.
the legs in line with the front/back of the main body.
In general the method worked but not quite for one
I place a couple of timbers on my table saw (with the of the legs which ended up being a little wonkier than
saw blade down) so I could get a clamp on the joining the others.
part whilst maintaining the legs and body level. I also
used the timber close to the legs as a guide so clamp

End Grain Plywood End Table With Laminated Legs: Page 9

Step 8: Planing, Filling and Final Sanding

Now the legs were complete I looked at nishing the were a couple of gaps that needed lling. I decided
main body. I started by planning the legs strips so that instead of hiding my mistakes I would almost
they were almost level with the body, followed by highlight them by lling the gaps with a moisture of
sanding them completely ush. epoxy and black reinforcing ller.

Due to the quality of the ply there were quite a few Once dried I sanded the whole table.
holes and due to the quality of two of my cuts there

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End Grain Plywood End Table With Laminated Legs: Page 11
Step 9: Level Off the Legs

Lastly I trimmed the bottom of the legs by placing the front of the table against the sliding table on my saw so I
knew the bottom of the legs would be parallel with the main body.

Step 10: Oiling and Finishing Thoughts

End Grain Plywood End Table With Laminated Legs: Page 12

All I had left to do was to oil the whole thing in hard
wax oil. For the legs I had to use a paintbrush to get in
to all the nooks and crannies.
As a project with a couple of rsts for me I am pleased
with how it turned out but I would do a few things
di erently next time.
To cut the slots I'd look at using a router rather than a
table saw to see if that method would results in better
cuts.
When clamping the legs I would perhaps looking at
doing it by eye. Maybe this would give a more
pleasing overall look to the legs.
I'd de nitely use a better quality plywood as I think
this would really make a di erence.

End Grain Plywood End Table With Laminated Legs: Page 13

I really love it. Thank you very much!

Thanks for the comment. Cheers!

I love this. I have added it to my favorites. I have question though. I may have missed it in the
instructions... You said you transferred the measurements from CAD to the project. I didn't see
where you posted those. Are you selling the plans?
I have added the CAD file and a pdf of the CAD drawing to step 3. The measurements are in
millimeters by the way!
Hi. Thanks for your comment. I'm not selling my CAD plans, they are quite basic but I will add them
to this instructable later today if they are of interest to you. Cheers!

End Grain Plywood End Table With Laminated Legs: Page 14

Dramatic! Outstanding.

Best of luck in the cometition!

That is absolutely beautiful. The idea of growing the legs from the inlaid strips is incredible. That
must be a table that you can just sit and look at for hours. Thank you for sharing your work and
good luck with the competition :-)
You took the words out of my mouth. Those legs are awesome. Nicely done.

Thanks very much. Your comment is very much appreciated :)

Wow, that's a funky and unique approach. Nice work, I like it!

Thanks!

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