Prior to purchasing the first splinter of wood, I designed the tables using Microsoft Excel, Paintbrush, and AutoCad.  Some of the designs are pictured at left.  Excel allowed me to quickly change design features and calculate wood use, Paintbrush gave me a quick look at visuals, and AutoCad allowed me to look at 3-d views.

To give an impression of my workspace, I photographed the small garage from opposite ends.  I also included a shot of one of the tables while it was being used for tool "storage" and sawdust catcher.  Needless to say, I was constantly banging into things, bruising myself, and getting lost.

Here are shots of the first few planks of onlay being glued to the table surface.  These slats run parallel to each of the four sides of the table.  The maple has a 45 degree miter while the purple heart and ebony are joined at 90 degrees.  Clamps and weights secured the onlay to the table surface as well as outer layers.

Now it was time to attach the purple heart.  I used 8/8 (or 1 and 3/4 inch finished) width stock as seen in the photo.  That board is about 9 and 1/2 inches wide and ten feet long!  This stock was cut into approximately three foot lengths then ripped to 1/4 inch thickness.  This piece and another smaller piece provided 63 slats of 1.75"x0.25"x3.0'.  Just to be safe, I used two new saw blades to ensure clean, relatively burn-free rips. 

Needless to say, all that sawing created a massive amount of sawdust.  Most of the time I was in the garage, I wore an air filter and safety gogs.  The last photo is a cross-section of the pile showing order of wood ripping.

After the top was installed, but before final finishing, I inverted each table to apply the red oak quarter round trim.  This trim covered up various gaps and screw-ups in attaching the table bases to the table tops.  Since the trim needed to be glued on two surfaces, I applied weights at an angle, providing force in two directions simultaneously.

This is a series of photos of the last table I began sanding.  The first photo shows three "raw" edges and one edge after about 10 minutes of belt sanding at 50 grit.  Last photo after an hour.

For the first time, I lined up all three tables.  Each is in a different stage of finishing work.  Here I wanted to see how well they lined up and/or fit together.  The results were fairly good, but putting "identical" objects side-by-side highlights the differences (read irregularities).  Well, with a little arranging, maybe I can get them all working together.  Now - on with the finishing work.

To better secure the corners of the edges, I inserted mahogany splines "open" to view.  These photos show the process of installing these open splines.  Color variations in the maple are due to lighting since no finish was yet applied.

Here are shots of the tables after final sanding.  I did all final sanding outside to prevent dust buildup in the garage, where I planned to apply the polyurethane finish.  In the photo on the right, you can see the reflection of objects (like the white vans) on the surface of the table.  I was delighted to see this effect from unfinished wood!

I applied the first coat of polyurethane!  Finally!  Here only the tabletops are coated.  That polyurethane really brings out the color and depth of the wood.  I had a heck of a time getting an even application since I had to keep the garage door closed to minimize dust, thereby preventing adequate light in to illuminate the workspace.  Catch-22.