Our cheap kitchen table was falling apart, so I undertook to make a new one that was better constructed and slightly bigger. After looking over a variety of woods, I chose vertical grain Douglas fir for its warm color, relatively simple grain pattern, and mid-range cost. I followed the plan from the book “Dining Tables.” Here is the result:

I began with the table top, milling the boards and clamping them with cauls:

Then the base. This would be my first attempt at mortise and tenons. Here’s the start of the aprons cut to length, without tenons:

And here is the start of mortising the legs – this was painful, even with a mortising machine:

Then, tapering the legs using a tapering jig on the table saw:

Then, making the corresponding tenons on the aprons – this was done with a regular blade on the table saw, and was less painful.

Here are the legs and aprons complete:

Table base assembled, with groove for the z-clips to hold the tabletop:

Installed corner blocks:

Testing out the table top:

Finished with about five coats of satin Arm-R-Seal: