Build a Modular Coffee Table

By Chris Baylor, About.com Guide

With the table legs completed, we'll move onto the rails that will form the structure of the table. We'll be cutting 45-degree miters on the ends of the 1x2 stock to form tight corners that will fit into the rabbets we made in the previous step.

Cut four rails out of 1x2 as outside corners with opposing 45-degree angle cuts on the ends (with the rails standing on their sides) with the outside edge measuring 36" in length. Cut another four rails in the same manner at 18" in length.

Finally, cut four more pieces, but in a slightly different manner. In this case, the miter cuts should be parallel to one another, to form an outside corner on one end and an inside corner on the other end. The finished length of the entire piece should be 18-3/4" (or 18" from the point of one miter to the inside, obtuse point of the other angle).

Lay out two of the 36" pieces on a shop table to form the outside corner of the table structure. Lay one each of the 18" outside pieces against each end of two you just placed on the table, and then position two of the final cut pieces to form the inside corner of the L-shaped structure. Check to see that your corners are square. This will form the lower rail structure of the table.

With a pencil, make a mark on the lower and upper outside edges of these pieces to denote which edges we should ease with a router. Next, lay out the top rail structure and mark the bottom inside and outside edges for easing.

Place a 1/4" round-over bit into your router, and mount the router in your router table. Carefully ease only the edges you just marked on each of the twelve rail pieces and place them back into their positions on the table.

With the same setup, ease the four edges of each of the table legs as well.