Recently, I received a commission to build a coffee table with a jigsaw puzzle design on the surface. The idea was to use a dark wood on the outside and paint the inside blue.
I wanted straight-grained walnut for the outside so not to distract from the puzzle pieces being routed on the surface. Since I wasn’t able to procure enough rift-sawn or flat-sawn walnut, I took 8/4 (2″ thick) flat-sawn walnut and cut it into 1/4″ thick strips. I then arranged them in a slip-match pattern and glued them to a substrate of 1″ plywood. This was to help keep the wood stable as it makes its way across the continent to Florida.
Once the glue was dry, I cleaned up the surface and levelled the joints with a card scraper.
Then I glued walnut onto the edges of the table and used cauls to distribute the pressure evenly.
My next steps are to prep the opposite face for painting, before mitering the ends and joining the four sides into the box.
Sculptural Woodwork by Chris Wong 