Scraplog

The Making Of A Table Part 2

Almost 2 months ago, I showed you the steps my Dad and I were taking to build me a table out of reclaimed barn wood. You can read the first part of the story here. After a long break, we finally had a chance to work on it together again. We are now getting so close and I’m so excited to have this baby in my house!!

My Dad actually worked on it a bit when I wasn’t around so I don’t have any pictures of those steps. Basically, we left off last time with all of the wood being cut and sanded down. Next, my Dad took the boards and fastened them together with wood pieces underneath and fitted them for the legs. I’m a dork and didn’t even take a picture of this part now that I’ve seen it so I will have to take a picture and show you next time. I’m pretty sure he also did some sanding for me, thanks Dad :)

On Wednesday and Thursday, I went to their house to work on it again. Our next step, now that the table was assembled, was to make the final cut on the ends to make them even. Once the cuts were made and the table was the right size, a couple of the boards didn’t want to lay flat with the others. So Dad came up with a brilliant plan.

Using a clamp, he clamped the two seams together so they would be even. Then He drilled a hole in through one sideways into the other one. Then he sunk a long screw in. Here is a picture of the hole with the screw in it:

Then he put a wood plug in the hole and sanded it smooth. We actually had to do this three times to get them to all line up right. It looks so nice and I’m really happy we did this.

Since Dad was handling the saws, I let him take care of that while I continued to sand. I sanded the top and the sides to get it really smooth and the corners rounded. Boy, these wood projects take a lot of sanding!! Dad would come around with a pencil and circle marks left from the disc sander that I needed to get out yet. I’m thankful for this or they would have shown up when the finish was put on.

While we were sanding, a few bad spots in the wood showed up. I want the table to be rustic but not with big gouges in it from rotten wood.

We pondered what to do. We could replace the board (which would mean a lot more work) or we could make a patch for it. Since the wood plugs on the end of the table worked so well I opted to go with the patch. I had never seen this done before but since the table was rustic, I thought it would look nice. And, I knew my Dad could do anything :)

First, using a router, he got rid of all of the decay and made a nice little spot for the new wood to go in.

Next, using a scrap of the same rustic wood, he cut a piece that would fit into the new hole. He used the disc sander to make the corners fit right as well.

After we tested it to make sure it fit, we glued it in place and clamped it down over night for the glue to set.

The next day (Thursday), I came back over and sanded the new piece to make it smooth like the rest of the table and now it blends in pretty well. Of course, you can tell that there is a patch there but I actually like it. It gives it character and I’m glad we chose this option. I also did some more sanding on the bottom side to smooth it out so people don’t get slivers if they touch it.

We are getting so close now! Hopefully next time I will have pictures of the finished product! Is anyone else out there as excited as I am?!!