As I outlined in a post last week, a friend of mine requested a triangular table to fit a niche in her sectional sofa. It’s mostly going to be hidden in a corner, so we decided it didn’t really require any fancy joinery. She suggested that I could just make a tabletop and throw (gasp) hairpin legs on it. That being the case, I decided I would keep things fairly simple.
The plan is to have the main tabletop made out of 3/4 rift-sawn white oak ply with 1/2” wide solid cherry edges that will be mitered, splined, and then radiused. Finished dimensions of the table are very specific, but luckily, it’s a “regular right triangle,” meaning it’s a right triangle with both “short legs” being equal in length, so math is pretty easy: two short sides (a & b) at 20.5”, one long side© at 29”.
The two short sides will be in a corner, against the wall, with the long side against the couch. I think it will look best with the grain running out from the corner of the room toward the couch. Once I account for the 1/2” of trim on the finish, the dimensions of my plywood should be 28”x19-13/16”.
Cut #1 will be to rip the sheet down to 28”, and cut #2 will bring that piece down to a 28”x14” rectangle.
After that, cut #3 will be a 45-deg cross-cut to create one short side, like this:
I’ll then rotate that side to be against the miter gauge (now at 90-deg) to produce the final short side, like this:
After getting several great responses to my initial post, I’ve decided that I’m going to connect the trim with 45-deg miters only—having the two short side trim pieces “dead end” into the trim piece on the long side, like this:
Once the corners are radiused, it should still end up being a pretty clean look:
Of course, I may end up changing my mind about one step or the other along the way. I’m planning to do some “dummy” trim pieces to make sure I nail the lengths before cutting my precious cherry “for real.”