Uploaded July 2018 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A few months ago, a friend of mind gave me a HUGE haul of wood, including a gorgeous live-edge cedar slab. Truthfully, I'm not terribly good at thinking out of my own little design box, so I couldn't come up with a good way to use this slab. In fact, I almost cut off the knotty end. Thankfully, my mom saw the slab one day and commented about how much she loved it. Since I am waiting on a load of walnut to acclimate to my shop before I begin work on a walnut side board, I decided to make my mom this sofa table, and man did it not disappoint.
It's a very simple design with a few complexities. It's a simple, tapered leg shaker-style table with mortise and tenon joinery for the apron rails. However, to make the top appear to be floating, you need some sort of support structure to lift it off the table carcass. So, I used tapered, sliding dovetails to affix the supports to the apron rails, and then I used regular sliding dovetails to attach the top to the support.
All in all, it wasn't a hard project, but it did take some thinking, planning, and a LOT of planing! Also, I did it with almost all hand tools; the only power tool I used was my bandsaw to trim the leg blanks down to square and then to cut the curves on the supports. In total, it was about 5 minutes of work on the band saw. Sorry for all you purists out there :)
Here's the article from Fine Woodworking where I got my inspiration:
finewoodworking.com/readerproject/2017/11/13/live-edge-hall-table-mirror
I didn't get any plans or anything. I just took the picture, and then I made that design work for what I had.
I really hope you've enjoyed watching me and my mom make this live-edge cedar sofa table.
Thanks so much for watching!
I really do hope you have enjoyed this video. Please feel free to check out my other social profiles.
Instagram: instagram.com/thehandtoolery
Facebook: facebook.com/TheHandToolery
My Etsy Shop: etsy.com/shop/TheHandToolery
Best,
Andrew
A few months ago, a friend of mind gave me a HUGE haul of wood, including a gorgeous live-edge cedar slab. Truthfully, I'm not terribly good at thinking out of my own little design box, so I couldn't come up with a good way to use this slab. In fact, I almost cut off the knotty end. Thankfully, my mom saw the slab one day and commented about how much she loved it. Since I am waiting on a load of walnut to acclimate to my shop before I begin work on a walnut side board, I decided to make my mom this sofa table, and man did it not disappoint.
It's a very simple design with a few complexities. It's a simple, tapered leg shaker-style table with mortise and tenon joinery for the apron rails. However, to make the top appear to be floating, you need some sort of support structure to lift it off the table carcass. So, I used tapered, sliding dovetails to affix the supports to the apron rails, and then I used regular sliding dovetails to attach the top to the support.
All in all, it wasn't a hard project, but it did take some thinking, planning, and a LOT of planing! Also, I did it with almost all hand tools; the only power tool I used was my bandsaw to trim the leg blanks down to square and then to cut the curves on the supports. In total, it was about 5 minutes of work on the band saw. Sorry for all you purists out there :)
Here's the article from Fine Woodworking where I got my inspiration:
finewoodworking.com/readerproject/2017/11/13/live-edge-hall-table-mirror
I didn't get any plans or anything. I just took the picture, and then I made that design work for what I had.
I really hope you've enjoyed watching me and my mom make this live-edge cedar sofa table.
Thanks so much for watching!
I really do hope you have enjoyed this video. Please feel free to check out my other social profiles.
Instagram: instagram.com/thehandtoolery
Facebook: facebook.com/TheHandToolery
My Etsy Shop: etsy.com/shop/TheHandToolery
Best,
Andrew
