Two years ago we moved into a new house. We doubled our square footage and gained a wide open living/dining room/kitchen with vaulted ceilings. Our old table was a standard 32 inch x 54 inch or so and was just much too small for the new area. My wife and I were on vacation and in Connecticut antiquing. We saw some large antique barnwood tables for sale and fell in love with the style. The problem was, the tables were about $2000-$3000. We decided that was too much and I was sure I could make one for much less than that. She decided that she wanted it by thanksgiving, so I had 2 months to make it. I had to finish by the end of September, or it would be too cold to do the staining.
Now that you know the back story, lets get on with the pictures. First step was to design the table and get the needed dimensions. I used solid works to make the design.
The table would have 4×4 legs, an arc in the apron, metal banding for the edge, and hardwood flooring for the top.
I started by cutting a mortise in each leg.
I used the cnc routing machine, but a hand held router or some chisels would work. I squared up the mortise with a chisel after the cnc did its work.
Next I cut the tenon in the apron along with the arc. I did all this on the bandsaw. I did have a large warpage issue with one of the longer apron pieces and had to recut it from a new piece of wood.
After fitting all the parts together, I drilled the holes for the brackets and inserted the wood inserts into the legs to mount the top.
Now all the pieces are finished its time to stain. I went with a stain that matched the top and some other pieces of furniture we have in the room. I used the pocket holes and the insert in the legs, to mount them to a board to stain on.
After staining was complete I brought everything in the house for final assembly.
Once all the apron pieces were in, I reinstalled the brackets seen above. This is one thing I would change the next time around. These brackets were much to small for this size table and I would use a larger bracket between the 2 apron pieces next time.
The top went on next. The top consists of 2 pieces of 3/4 inch plywood and some hardwood flooring.
The first sheet of plywood is bolted to the legs with 1/4-20 machine screws. The second sheet is then put on the first and the pocket screws are installed through the apron. Next the flooring was put on, trimmed, and screwed on from the bottom.
To reduce tearout I taped the edge. I then used a hand plane to make sure all the edges were in line with each other. Next up I drilled a pilot hole in the banding and transferred it to the table.
I then inserted the threaded inserts that will accept the bolts that will hold the banding on.
The banding was then clamped in place and 5/16 inch button head cap screws were used to hold the banding on. I used the button head cap screws because they kind of look like rivets and add to the industrial look.
We are near the end. I finally took a file around the edges and smoothed any rough spots. I also took a staining pen to fix any bare wood that was still exposed. A final whip down and it is finished for thanksgiving dinner. Thanks for look. More projects will come!
CraftsByDad Projects 