Cherry and Leather Side Table

Built this side table for my living room using scrap wood and leftover leather from other projects. Wanted to build a piece of furniture where my lathe was the primary tool and came up with this design. I had some scrap cherry laying around but it would not suit my living room, as such, I made it black and added some leather on top!

Materials:

1. Lumber of Choice. I used cherry because i had some left over from a previous project. I had already milled all my lumber for a previous project. Mill all materials to the below dimensions before starting.
2. 1 top 11"-12" square and at least 1 1/2" thick -
3. 3 legs 20" x 1 3/4" square
4. Scrap leather, enough to cover your top (11"-12" square or round)
5. Wood glue of choice (I used Titebond III)
6. Small pieces of lumber to make wedges
7. Black fountain pen ink (India ink)
8. Wood finish of your choice (I used Rubio Monocoat Charcoal)

Tools:

1. Lathe with swing greater than the top diameter and bed of at least 19" (this basically maxed out my lathe)
2. Turning tools
3. A sharp chisel, anything larger than 1/4" will do
4. Band saw (you can also cut everything by hand but this was much quicker)
5. Flush cut saw
6. Small hand plane (or block plane)
7. Mallet or hammer
8. Bevel square
9. Measuring tools (measuring tape, rulers)
10. 1" Forstner of Brad Point drill bit
11. Compass or dividers
12. Sharp knife

First begin by marking out and cutting your top. Find the center of your board, draw a circle around said center at a 5 1/2" or 6" radius, you can do this by making a jig which holds a drill bit and your pencil with your desired radius between centers.

Cut out your top to make the turning process faster, then locate your face-plate, pre drill and screw it on. You can then mount your top on your lathe.

Turn the outside of the top first until you have a perfectly round disc with no flat spots. You can then lay out where your leather will go. The top is recessed so that the leather sits below the edge of the top. I left roughly 3/16" as a perimeter and removed material inside that line and in the center to a depth that is slightly deeper than my leather was thick. You can then remove the rest of the waste until your two depth cuts meet. You now have your top. Remove it from your lathe and before unscrewing the face-plate, trace the face-plate. This will make a circle that is guaranteed centered on your top.

Mark center on both ends of all your legs then mount on your lathe. Turn round then mark 1 3/4" from one end, this will be your tenon. I like to set my calipers to the diameter of my drill bit and fit the tenon to my calipers. Turn between the mark and the end to a diameter of 1", then on the other end, plunge in 1". On the same side, the tenon side, turn the shoulder you created to 1 1/2". Connect your shoulder to your 1" end and you will create a taper. The end result should have a 1 1/2" tenon, followed by a leg that tapers from 1 1/2" down to 1". I like to use a straight edge (or another leg) to ensure the taper is even, in the photo above you can see i still needed to remove material to get an even taper. Lastly, sand each leg on the lathe. I like to wrap a piece of sandpaper around a straight piece of wood and rest it on your tool rest, this ensures the removal of any inconsistencies.

First start by turning a scrap piece of plywood to fit inside the recess in the top you turned. This will be placed under your top when drilling and will also be used to glue the leather on. Then, mark out where your mortises will be drilled on the bottom of your tabletop. Do this by dividing the circle you drew around the face-plate into three. I used a compass set to the radius of the circle (this process can be found by searching how to divide a circle into 3). Then mark 3" in from the edge of the top on the lines you drew, this will be where your drill bit starts.

Set your bevel gauge to 7 or 8 degrees to act as a drill guide. Set it along your line and place the drill bit on your mark. Referencing your bevel gauge, match its angle and drill right through the top (see photos). once all three mortises are drilled, see if your legs fit. They may need to be refined by either sanding or by putting them back on the lathe.

Optional:

Once all three legs are seated, use a scrap piece of wood about 1/4" thick as a spacer for your flush cut saw. Cut around each leg about 1/4" deep, this will create a shoulder parallel to your top (see photos). Use your chisel to remove the waste.

Begin by preparing three wedges, about 1 1/2" long x 1" wide, tapering from 1/8" down to nothing. Then, cut slots in your legs to accept the wedges, these can be cut by hand or on the band saw. Once finished, start adding glue to the mortises, fir the legs, add glue to the wedges and drive them into your slots. This will lock the legs on in addition to the glue. Once they have dried (roughly an hour, see your glue bottle for instructions) you can cut the ends with your flush cut saw and clean them up with a hand plane. you may also need to sand them flush afterwards.

Sand all parts to 180 grit before glue up.

Spread fountain pen ink over the legs and top but not the recess in the top as you will be gluing the leather on there. Once the ink has dried (couple hours), lightly sand with 600 grit sandpaper to smooth, then you can apply your finish. You can use a clear finish, though i used Rubio Monocoat Charcoal to make it a little darker. If you want it darker you can add additional coats of ink before finish. Let the finish dry for one day.

Last step!

Once your finish is "dry," you can glue on your leather. Using your plywood circle you turned earlier, cut out your leather. Use it as a template and cut around it with a SHARP knife. Once cut, ensure it fits in your top.

You don't need much glue, just enough to get an even coat around the top, you want to avoid any squeeze out. Spread your glue, carefully place the leather and smooth it out with your hand before clamping your plywood circle on top of the leather.

Let the glue dry and you are finished!