COFFEE TABLE WITH RESIN TABLE TOP
HENRY HORWOOD

For my HSC major work, I wanted to make a coffee table for my HSC major work that could be placed in our living room. Our house is framed with dark timber and surrounded by gum trees and I wanted the table’s design to complement these features. I particularly wanted to use a resin component that would run through the tabletop like a vein of colour. 

I sketched out some design ideas and then developed them in Onshape. 
I set up the two individual frames and then began putting them together with dowel joints. I undertook a dry assembly and then made adjustments as required so that the timber fitted together correctly. I then glued my piece, making sure that everything was square on the job and removing any excess glue from the timber. 

I found a vendor who sold slabs of timber and sourced two pieces for the tabletop. I slowly removed the bark to reveal a nice smooth surface below. I took the piece to school and had it cut to size, removing the cracks in the middle and on one of the crushed edges.

To make the rounded part of the table, I cut the timber with an electric hand saw and rounded the edges with a router. 

Making the resin was a two-step process. First, I mixed the resin and then I added the blue colouring and mixed it again. Using a small cup so that I didn’t spill any liquid, I poured the resin into a mould that I had made from plywood earlier.
I began sanding the tabletop, initially using a belt sander and then went on to use a hand-held sander, trying to avoid the resin as much as I possibly could. Once I moved to finer sandpaper, I started to sand the resin which gave it a nice clean finish. 

I applied my timber runners using a dowel at one end and a screw at the other. I made sure they were done perfectly so that there was no rocking in the drawers. 
After cleaning the resin, I applied a finisher to the drawers, draw fronts and surrounding scaffold.

I learned a lot doing this project. Although on reflection there are some things that I would have done differently, I am very happy with how it turned out.