In the video, I show how I built a hall table from start to finish. I started by carefully selecting the materials for the table, including a gorgeous mahogany slab for the tabletop and a Steel Disk that I used as a solution to add copper to the steel. Through much trial and error, I patinated the copper for a beautiful old-world look. This is a great example of where wood meets steel.
I also showed how to create the joinery for the table, such as mortise and tenon joints for the legs and stretcher. In addition, I provided some tips and techniques on how to install a bowtie into the slab tabletop.
One of my favorite features of this table is the copper portal, which adds an artistic touch to the design. I showed how I created a segmented ring and incorporated it into the table’s overall structure. The rendering was created in SketchUp.
The Build Process
Today, I’m walking you through how I built this hall table, which is actually an iteration on a design I used for my executive desk a while back. If you saw that build, you’ll remember the segmented ring with the geometric grid and copper inlay. I loved how that turned out, so I decided to bring those elements into this piece too. But this time, instead of doing an overlay, I’m suspending the whole thing between two trestles. I think it’s going to look amazing.
Finding Your Style Through Iteration
When I first started my furniture business, I wasn’t sure what my style would be or even how to find it. But I’ve realized that iteration is key. By continuing to play with this segmented ring design across different pieces, I’m really starting to develop something that feels like mine. So I’m going to keep experimenting with it in future projects and see where it takes me.
Working with Wenge (and Not Wasting It)
The base of this table is made from Wenge, which is seriously expensive. My lumber yard only had eight-quarter stock, and I wasn’t about to plane off half an inch of this precious wood and turn it into sawdust. So instead, I’m resawing it at the bandsaw. That strip I resaw off will actually become part of my segmented ring later after I mill it down to about half an inch.
Cutting the Legs and Spindles
This design has a main leg with two smaller spindles on either side. For accuracy, I set up a stop on my miter gauge so I can cut them all to the same length at the exact same time. This really helps ensure everything comes out perfectly square every time.
You might be wondering why I’m using a wooden stop clamped to the sacrificial fence instead of the built-in stop on my miter gauge. It’s simple: the miter gauge isn’t long enough on its own, so that sacrificial fence extends it to a usable length.
For the longer trestle pieces, I use my fence as a stop with a little stop block attached. This prevents any kickback issues by giving a little spacer.
Layout and Joinery
Here’s a pro tip: any good woodworker knows you have to do your layout using a chicken pencil. It’s just the right way to do it.
When I lay out my joinery, I do it on one leg, then butt the two together and transfer the marks from the first leg to the second. That way I only have to do the layout once, and I know they’ll be exactly the same.
To cut the tenons on the spindles and legs, I set up a dado stack with a sacrificial fence so I don’t mess up my main fence. Then I do the final cleanup at the bench with some hand tools.
And because round tenons and mortises are terrible, I’m squaring them up.
Test Fit Before Moving Forward
Before building the segmented ring and grid, I do a quick dry assembly to make sure everything fits properly and I’m happy with all the joinery. This is also when I take solid measurements from the actual workpiece to cut out the rings and bars for the gridwork. This ensures everything fits nice and tight.
Building the Grid
The grid itself is basically three-quarter-inch stock. I mill up some material and rip it down to the final width. To hold the grid together, I’m using a series of half-lap joints at each intersection. Once it’s assembled, I’ll create little tenons on the ends of each piece, and that’s how it’ll fit into the table structure.
Creating the Segmented Ring
I’m not a huge wood turner, and I don’t have anything to hold a ring this big on my lathe. So I’m using my circle cutting jig to cut out a pattern that I can double-stick tape to the segmented pieces, then route out my circle that way.
I use a wedgie jig to cut the little wedges for the segments. I’ve found it to be the most accurate method—every single time they line up perfectly with no gaps and no need to sand between pieces. It just goes together perfectly.
Assembly and Reinforcement
Since there are 48 parts in each ring, I use a slow-set epoxy. This gives me time to, you know, drop them all on the floor, pick them up, clean them up, and reassemble them. Moving on.
After the epoxy dried, I send it through the drum sander a few times, double-stick taped to a board for support so I can get a nice clean flat surface.
These segmented rings are primarily end-grain glue bonds, so they’re not super strong and a bit fragile. I still have several milling operations to do—getting them round, cutting a dado, and routing a profile. I don’t want them busting apart during all that, so I glue down a piece of hardboard as a backer. Once all the milling is done, I’ll send the whole thing through the sander again to remove that hardboard.
Routing to Perfection
Before using my template to route it completely round, I clean up the excess hardboard at the router with a pattern bit. Once it’s round, I peel off the template, switch out the router bits to cut a dado for the metal insert, and then switch again to cut a round over on the inner and outer edges.
Creating the Metal Center Ring
Time to set the woodworking aside and create the center ring that’ll be glued between the two wooden segmented rings. I put down some blue painter’s tape to give my tool a place to bite so it won’t skid around on the metal.
We got a little snow here in Colorado, so I took it outside to throw some sparks without worrying about catching my sawdust on fire. The snow makes a good fire stop.
The Copper Patina Trick
Originally I wanted to use solid copper for the inner ring, but copper prices have skyrocketed lately. So I decided to use steel and add a copper patina instead. There are lots of ways to get a copper color on steel, but I’ve found that Walter White’s blue crystal formula is the best and easiest route.
I grind it up into a fine powder to make sure it mixes well, then it’s just a matter of playing around with it to see what kind of patterns I can make. I keep experimenting until I come up with something that looks cool.
Making the Top from Genuine Mahogany
While the metal is drying, I turn my attention to making the top. I’m using genuine mahogany from the island of St. Lucia, and I know it’s from St. Lucia because I got it from a small importer called Elements Wood Imports. They’re basically a small family-owned business that imports exotic lumber from St. Lucia. They manage a small plantation and forest, and if a storm blows down an exotic tree in someone’s front yard, they salvage it, slab it up, and import it. It’s very sustainable—they’re kind of like the Matt Cremona of St. Lucia. I’ll put a link in the description if you want to check them out.
As with many woods, after being freshly milled the color is quite light. But don’t worry—a couple days in the sunlight and it’ll darken up to its rich, beautiful patina. When finishing, I’m going to add a bit of dye to make that grain really pop.
Hand-Cut Bow Ties
I specifically selected this slab for the crack so I could put bow ties in it. I like to inlay my bow ties by hand—I don’t use a router jig because then you lose the uniqueness of your work. Everybody who bought that router jig is going to have the exact same shape bow tie.
I cut each bow tie specific for each job so that every bow tie is unique across all my furniture pieces. No two bow ties are alike. I think that’s a really important touch to make my furniture as unique as possible.
Installing the Metal Ring
Back to the segmented ring. I have it precariously balanced on a couple of sticks so I can slide some clamps underneath once I get it glued up. Once the two pieces are bonded together, I take a minute to line them up so the joints are staggered by half. I think it’ll look great to have those padauk bands staggered out, and that stagger will also add strength since the joint spans a flat glue bond.
So far I’m really happy with how the colors are turning out. This is before finish, so that matte texture will go away once I put a finish on there. I’ll be using Sherwin-Williams industrial coatings over the metal.
Routing Round (Again)
Now that the glue is dry, I need to position my template back on there so I can route it round. But since the template is hollow, there’s no way to mark a center point on it. So I use two little sticks to find center and give me something to register my template on when I double-stick tape it back down. I leave the sticks in place to add support while I route it out at the router table.
The final step before doing the joinery and suspending this in the table is to sand off the hardboard I glued on earlier. Now that the two pieces are glued together with overlapping joints, it’s nice and strong.
Suspending the Ring
To suspend the segmented ring between the trestles, I’m using a couple of spindles. These spindles will have a half-lap joint across the ring. To get that half-lap joint on a round surface, the easiest method is with a router plane and scribing it in with a knife.
I’m using a Lie-Nielsen router plane. Whenever I can, I like to support quality manufacturers making quality tools here in North America. I know there was a controversial post a few weeks ago about router planes, but I can tell you from my own experience: if I were going to improve a router plane, putting a new knob on it wouldn’t be the first thing I’d change. The first thing would be to close up the area around the blade. Yes, I enjoy being able to see my work, but if it had a smaller casting around the blade, I could balance it on smaller work. That would be a huge improvement. But that’s just my opinion from a guy who uses his tools every day.
Final Assembly and Finishing
All the joinery is done, so it’s time for final assembly.
While spray finishing, I wedge some paper into all the joints to protect them from getting finish on them, because glue doesn’t stick very well to finish.
The Finished Piece
And there we go! My hall table is complete—an iteration from the executive desk build I did a while ago. It features a beautiful segmented ring with a patinaed piece of steel that looks like copper, and of course, that gorgeous, genuine mahogany slab from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, courtesy of Elements Wood Imports. This project became part of my Boulder Furniture Arts Collection
Thanks for following along on this build!
I’m the owner of Benham Design Concepts, a mixed media art studio where I design and build custom furniture and other works of art using wood, glass, stone, and various metals.
In this blog, I talk about the art I create, my journey, and the things I learn along the way.