Coffee Tables: The Final Chapter

To finish the coffee tables I needed some helpers... ok, their mom needed fifteen minutes of peace in the house so they came to help me.

There weren't many cool pictures to take of the actual assembly. 

I cut the top out of maple veneer plywood. Then I cut three straight pieces and one bendy piece to build a collar frame around the table. Then I attached the legs. 

Then it was time for Lacquer. I used a nice yellow for the base color.

Then, on top of the yellow, we used a Burnt Umber Glaze.

Finally, since these tables are meant to be used in a family area, we added about eleven coats of clear lacquer. It dries rock hard and makes a good, durable finish.

And delivered to their rightful place...

Coffee Tables Part II: Bending Wood

These Coffee tables go with Round Couches

So, to be a comfortable foot rest, the coffee table must also be round. 

To build straight boards into round coffee tables, we must bend the wood.

The first thing we need is a form that is the exact radius of the finished coffee table.

Second, we cut a thick board into three thin boards. Bent wood has layers.

Then we use lots of glue and lots of clamps. 

Half a pint of glue, and maybe 20 clamps should do it.

Let it sit like that overnight. When it is dry, you can remove the clamps, and the wood is bent.

Use a block plane to clean up the edges, and you're ready to assemble the tables.

Coffee Tables Part One: Check Out My Legs

This post is the first part of my Coffee Table Project.  

I started with Legs. You can buy legs at Home Depot, but they don't have any nice, chunky ones. 

For my specific leg style, I had to bust out the lathe and turn them myself. 

When I began this, I remembered that I never actually turned anything in woodshop in the early '90s. I just wasted a lot of time talking to my friend while he turned things. But I did remember all the steps.

First glue up a huge chunk of wood. In this case poplar.

Next cut it into an octagon shape so it's more nearly round.

Then load it into the lathe.

Next, get it spinning and start cutting.

Once you get the shape you want, sand it up.
The first one is easy; matching it 7 more times is a little more difficult.

8 legs done, now we can move on to the table tops. 

Barn Door in the Bathroom

Sliding Barn Door

Wanted to add a little country charm to this Jack 'n Jill Bathroom. Also, there was not room to swing a door in the tight space. So we solved the problem with this.

Rough sawn wood door with steel barn door track. It even latches for privacy.

Leaning Deck

Ran into an interesting challenge the other day.

The second story of this deck is leaning a bit to the right. Everybody (even me) is a little worried it might tumble to the ground. 

Luckily at Hampton Brother Builders, we can fix anything.... as long as it's made of mostly wood..... and is attached to your house.

We got some straps and some boards and some bolts and we put everything right. 

A quick shout out to my Scout Master. When we put a lot of pressure on a strap or rope, it is important to use real knots. Real knots hold under great pressure and undo easily when you are done. A tangled mess of a knot will usually hold, but you have to cut it after you're done.

And when we're done... everything is plumb, straight, and square again. We even hid the braces in the handrail, so they didn't obstruct the view. 

Built-Ins

Built-Ins are great.

Built in bookshelves for your library.... 

Or a built in bench for your mudroom. Add some lockers or whatever you need to keep your kids stuff contained. 

Heber Cabin After Photos

I posted about a cabin in Heber about a year ago. Well I just stopped by to look and it looks great!