Years ago, Nicole (Marc's wife) came home with a crappy set of nesting tables from Home Goods. The design inspired Marc to build a reimagined set of tables that feature an Asian influence and proper joinery. These tables will work as occasional tables, plant stands, or simply used as weapons to crush the old crappy tables into pieces.
Large Table: 16"L x 14"W x 21 1/4"H
Small Table: 12 1/2"L x 11 3/4"W x 18 1/4"H
A look at the history of the design.
The rings are constructed as segmented assemblies.
The segmented rings are cut into perfect circles using the lathe and/or a router.
Creating dados in the rings and cutting skinny stiles to fit.
A discussion about wood colors, grain direction, and then the legs are cut to size, mortised, and shaped.
The rails are cut to size, tenons are added, and the upper decorative rails are shaped.
How to repair a misplaced mortise.
Joinery is added to the decorative side elements.
Adding the fine details and gluing up.
The walnut tops are constructed and the finish is applied.
We have templates available for this project including the leg and rail shapes. You can purchase those here while supplies last.
This project shows the construction of two circular ring sizes. You can make these any number of ways but the two ways shown in the video series will be using the lathe and using a routing template. Please note that we no longer sell the circle templates I show in the video so you’ll need to make your own.
Really enjoyed this project, now proudly displayed in the house! Comes together relatively quickly (although I cheated with a Domino for the leg joinery). This was my first time making segmented rings. I opted for template routing to bring to final shape and then kept with the template bit on the router table to cut the curves on the legs.
I’ve done a few from the guild now and its very rewarding to compare the first to the last and see the skills I’ve picked up over the years.
Marc is a podcaster, video producer, woodworking enthusiast, and author of Hybrid Woodworking and Essential Joinery. He has contributed articles and video content to FineWoodworking.com, Popular Woodworking Magazine, WOOD Magazine, and Woodcraft Magazine. He is also the host of The Wood Whisperer, an instructional woodworking video series that’s been going strong since 2006. He is also one of the hosts of the Wood Talk podcast. He has taught classes at the William Ng School, Marc Adams School, Weekend with Wood, Fine Woodworking Live, as well as at various Rockler and Woodcraft stores. He also speaks periodically at woodworking events like AWFS and IWF.
