Table/Bar for Behind Couch

In our basement theater room we have a large sectional couch that sits about 4 feet from the back wall.  My idea was to build a table/bar that would sit behind the couch with stools.   This was a fairly straight-forward project, but the size of the timbers is what made it difficult.  In addition ensuring that the table didn't tip-over considering how heavy the top is (see below to see how I solved this). 

Two pieces of White Ash, 2" thick x 9" wide x 108" long...these beasts are HEAVY!

Edge jointed, planed and glued up.  I used my buddy's Domino XL to cut tennons to use to aid the glue up and the strength of the joint.

All glued up, cut to length and ready for sanding.  

I decided to not keep the top nice and uniform, but allow the sander to cut some gouges as I was sanding.  I used my Festool Rotex RO90 to do the "carving".

I went back and forth on the construction of the legs.  I had considered building the legs out of wood, but in the end decided to use 1" black iron pipe to match some of the industrial look of the basement.

Top sanded, two coats of General Finishes Black Milk Pain, one coat of General Finished Java Gel Stain, and 4 coats of Minwax Wipe-On Satin Poly.

 

All done! 

Note how the feet on the table/bar extend under the couch.  The feet are a foot longer than the table top is wide, allowing the feet to extend under the couch, limiting any "tipping" of the bar/table.  This bar/table is "rock-solid".

Summer Projects

This has been a very busy summer, but I did complete a few small projects...

Railing to protect my grill from blowing off my patio...it get's a little windy at my house!

Grill table built from redwood.  The construction was fairly simple as I used the Domino to cut the mortises for all the joinery.  I was able to build this table in an evening.

I glued patio stones to the wood using construction adhesive as the top of the grill table, this sucker is HEAVY and not going anywhere in the wind!

Small planter built out of leftover fencing material.

Rebuilt the top of my outfeed table using two layers of 3/4" mdf and a layer of 1/4" chalk-board that is replaceable.

Small frame made out of walnut with maple splines in the corners.

Lathe Tool Holder

Built a simple lathe tool holder today out of 3/4" plywood.

Coffee Table - Part 2

Coffee table is completed and "delivered".  The original stain was not dark enough, so I ended up painting the table-top with General Finishes Black Milk Paint, followed up with a layer of brown gel-stain, and then topped off with a few coats of wiped on polyurethane.  The legs came from ModernLegs.com, and were very simple to install.  While this was an incredibly easy project, the results were perfect.

Coffee Table - Part 1

Started working on the first piece of furniture for our basement home theater, a new coffee table.  I plan on building an end-table, and hall-table to match.  I decided to build all the pieces out of Ash since these pieces will be stained very dark, and the Ash from my local supplier is very inexpensive.  These projects will be incredibly simple, consisting of a solid 1 1/4" thick top and hairpin legs from ModernLegs.com.  The legs should be here in the next few weeks, but for now I can focus on getting the top glued up and finished.  

I decided to use 8mm Dominos to help in alignment.  The finished panel required very little flattening as the joints aligned perfectly.

All glued up.

First coat of finish.  The finish is an espresso colored polyurethane and stain blend, and after the first coat I am not that happy.  I wanted something much darker, but still allows the grain to show.  I haven't decided if I am going to attempt a second coat, or sand off this coat and start with a standard stain.

Pizza Peel - Part 2

Beveling the front edge with my Stanley N. 151 spoke shave.

Shaping the handle with the spoke shave and rasp.

All done for Christmas Eve pizza making!

Pizza Peel - Part 1

I wish I had taken more pictures of the process, but I started working today on a pizza peel.  I had some extra pieces of Cherry that I had bought years ago that I milled and glued up this morning.  I have a fair amount of sanding, and obviously need to cut out the shape and add the handle, but I am pleased with the progress.

Kitchen Chalkboard

This was another "honey-do" project that my wife had been wanting me to build.  The beauty of building your own projects like this is that it can be custom sized to fit in a specific space.

Entry Way Shelf

With some leftover walnut from the bookshelf project I put together a quick entry-way shelf with some coat hooks that were bought from Hobby Lobby.  The hooks are for my three daughters (red) and one son (blue-green).  Same finish as the bookshelves, multiple coats of Danish Oil.