Out With The Old...
A couple of years ago we bought a new table for the front balcony. We were pretty excited about it because we thought we were getting a great deal. However, when the table arrived it had the flimsiest, thinnest top that I'd ever seen on an outdoor table. It even creaked, and when you put pressure on it, you could hear a distinct buckling sound as if it would break in half!
Finally I decided to just build a new table while attempting to reuse the legs from old one. I really had no idea what I was doing, but I thought it shouldn't be that hard to figure out.
The old table top, seen below in a close-up, was complete garbage from the start. After just a month under the sun we discovered that it wasn't even continuous slabs of wood, but was lots of smaller thin pieces glued together. I didn't notice this when I bought it because it had a layer of stain that concealed the fact.
The sun completely removed the layer, and all of the wood came apart. It was super flimsy, and I didn't even feel safe seating more than 2 people at it for fear of it falling through.
In With the New....
I took a trip down to the Home Depot after taking some measurements of the old legs. I decided to make the new table about a foot longer and 6 inches wider than the old one. It seemed like the legs would be able to support it.
I have built a few things here and there, but have never tried to build something this big so I was a bit dubious that it was going to look good in the end. I decided to evenly space out the top boards until I got the width that I wanted, and cut some supporting boards to go across the bottom.
Once I got all the boards home and stacked up, the first thing I did was pull out the planer that I'd had in storage for several years. I don't know why, but I get an unexplainable satisfaction from planing wood. Something about taking a rough surface and making it smooth and even is extremely pleasing to me.
In fact, I am always looking for a reason to use this thing. The downside is that it makes an absolute mess, as you can see. Especially when doing bulk work like this.
After the boards were all planed, I cut them to the proper lengths. Afterward I cut four cross boards to run along the bottom of the table. It was completely arbitrary, but it seemed like it would work just fine.
It took me a lot longer than I had hoped to finish because other things kept coming up. I never seem to get more than an hour stretch of time where I can be away from @little-ricky. Basically, I can only do activities where I can use a computer while watching him.
In the end, all added up, it really only took me a few hours to get the boards cut and everything screwed together. I ended up having to go back to Home Depot to get the right sized bolts to mount the legs. Somewhat embarrassingly for the original company that made the first table, the legs felt much, much stronger connected to my table top.
After building the table top and new benches, I had to move them through the house, upstairs and onto the balcony. There was no way I was going to be able to attach them beforehand and manage to fit them through the doors.
Big Mistakes and Lessons Learned
Since I was completely doing this DIY project with no prior experience and not a lot of experience working with wood I made one pretty big mistake. I didn't let the wood dry out a bit before starting this project!
The lumber that I used was pretty damn cheap, which is perfectly fine for what I wanted to use it for. I wasn't trying to make a fancy table, just something solid to replace the old one. After staining the wood it looked absolutely fantastic, and we were super happy with it. However, about 2 months later I got up one morning and went outside to look at it and found that there were sap leaking out everywhere completely ruining the stain job.
It was a LOT of sap. Then entire surface of the table looked like someone poured wet sugar on it and let it crystalize. I waited a while longer until I was sufficiently satisfied that the wood had dried completely. Afterward, I re-sanded and stained the entire surface of the table and benches. It has been several months now, and it still looks great. I guess I will know for next time!
I would really appreciate your support!
Working with wood is fun - it was decades ago I did (for myself) - in the sculpture studio at University. There we used donated recycled wood from motorcycle crates that came from Asia. Once we planed it, what looked just grey and rough, we discovered that many had some very interesting grains and colors. Cutting out the bad parts (nail holes and such) we wound up with pieces that we then laminated together to make blocks for carving. My piece was almost finished, a abstract sculpture, when it got stolen out of the studio. It was almost done, just had to fine polish it and then treat it with oil.
Many years later at work on the railway, we used to replace decking in boxcars. These pieces were super strong, laminated hardwood. Cutting some of them to fit there were chunks left over that were of no use, but instead of tossing them out, we could take them home. I made chopping blocks out of them. I can't remember the price of one such board (we did the computer billing) but it was rather expensive.
That's really cool! Doing projects with reclaimed wood is really great. It call really have a lot of interesting character. I'm sorry to hear that some of your projects got stolen, though. A friend of mine, Art Venti, who had a studio here in Venice Beach had his studio broken into many years ago and had some pieces stolen. I know it was pretty upsetting for him. At least when you are the artist you can create more art, but inspiration doesn't spark the same way twice, I'd imagine.
Ha, you know Art Venti - I love his work!
Unfortunately the website where I featured him (+ over 500 artists I like) has been down with a virus. I took it off line until I find a reliable service that can clean it. This is not like getting security software for your computer. What I seen so far is quite involved and not cheap!
Internet Archive on file in 2022: https://web.archive.org/web/20220419002815/https://www.vagallery.com/art-venti.html
This is the home page - seems like some of the links work, even though pages may not be complete, like Art Venti, the slide show is not working.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220418184736/https://www.vagallery.com/
Cool! Yeah we've been friends with Jenny (his wife) and Artie for 20 years or so. In fact, he was the first person I met in LA. We lived in his brother's house for a couple of weeks while we were getting an apartment back then. They moved to Florida now which kind of sucks because we miss hanging out with them. I don't know how I attract so many artist friends. I am not even an artist. lol!
Sorry to hear about the website virus. That can be a major pain. I had the same thing happen to me some years ago and I had to download everything, wipe the server and re-upload each site one by one after looking through the files. It wasn't fun!
I got most of the artists artwork, plus they are on a private network. But recreating all that would take forever. I had added stuff for years and years, since 2009!
I don't have the stamina anymore that I used to have.
On Weebly there is a function: copy the site. It didn't work. The copy that came out had only a small part of it, and the menu was garbled up on top of that.
#hive #posh
It seems like you had a bit of a learning curve, but you persevered and ended up with a table that you're much happier with now! I liked how you were able to reuse the legs from the old table. It's always great to be able to save money and reduce some waste.
the new one is looking really great!
We like it so much better than the old table. And now I don't worry about seating a lot of people! Much safer for sure.
I also suggest that when a person has to buy such tables, it is better to buy them from outside rather than buying them from outside.
I don't think I quite understand your comment, my friend
I am saying that it is better than buying a table from a shop to buy wood and make it at home.
Woodworking is a tough if you don't have much experience with it. The nice thing is it turned out pretty good without too much warping. Working with wood is a new experience, and now you've got your feet wet the next project should be much easier. I do some stuff around the house too, it can be a lot of fun but mistakes happen and that's how you learn.
I am learning that the hard way! I underestimated just how much sap was in that wood! Yes, and thank goodness it didn't warp more than it did. whew!
Fortunately you bounced back nicely and had a little luck. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good!
You planned, and mistakes happened. It is how things are. I love that you decided to use the machine, hehe. The smell of wood does miracle.
It is nice. It turned out well.
In the end everything worked out great. You live and learn!
That's the way of life!
Whoa, those images took me on a visual journey! Your woodworking vibes are absolutely contagious. I can almost smell the fresh lumber! Can't wait to see where this project goes. Keep rocking it bro @nuthman
Thanks @rak7 it was a fun and rewarding project. I don't know what I'll make next. But whatever it is, I'll make sure the wood is dry first.
Man, that turned out really well. Good job!
I love doing woodworking and carpentry. There is something so satisfying about building something with your own hands. Unfortunately I don't have room for many tools here and most of what I own are still packed up back in the States, so I don't get much chance to build these days.
But anyway, great job!
For sure! I can't quite explain it. It's nice to stand back at your work and say "I did that"
It is so much more satisfying that just buying something at the store. Especially if you can save money and do a better job.
Your actually lucky that the wood didn't warp after it started to dry out. I have had that happen to me before. I do a bit of DIY work, but most of my stuff is more functional than fashionable. This is not the case for you. I think it turned out amazing. It must have something to do with that artistic flare you have. I think it also helps that you have some of the right tools. I just have a miter saw so I have to use that to make things work. My buddies dad has a custom cabinet shop and a kiln to dry lumber, but it's a lot of work to get over there just to build the small things I usually make.
Well, actually it did warp a bit. Thankfully not too much. I really didn't know what I was doing but definitely learned my lesson.
Yeah, I bought the planer about 8 years ago when I was making quite a lot of disposable income. It ended up in storage for years while we were traveling and I just got it out of storage just before this project. It really made a huge difference to what it would have looked like without it, I think.
I have a pretty nice Ridgid Miter saw as well that I bought after getting fed up with an old piece of crap Ryobi one that cut everything crooked. It was impossible to cut a straight line with that saw. It was always slightly angled no matter what I did.
That would be awesome to be able to dry the lumber like that. I imagine something like that would take up a lot of space, though!
That is cool. I think the planer definitely made a difference in the way it looked after it was finished. Yeah, he has a whole pole barn dedicated to the kiln and then another separate building for the cabinet shop. Table saws, planers, joiners, you name it, he has it.
Wow, it turned out nice and I think you should do more. of DIy because you explained the process so well.
Well, mistakes are inevitable but the good thing is you learn from them and do better next time.
I do have some other projects in mind. I have a lot of wood left over t work with as well. And it is well dried out by now! haha
I'd be looking forward to seeing them soon.
Yours looks so much better than the one you bought. And even though you face few problem with newly built one, at least you learned a nee lesson and can be apply to the nee one if ever you decided to create one again from scratch. It ends with awesomeness in the end (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)
Thanks! Even though I was making it up as I went along it turned out surprisingly well. I did indeed learn a lot from it and think that the next thing I build will be even better.
Hello nuthman!
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Ah, ok. damn, hehe. I got a really bad deal. Thanks for the note! I sent over some Hive. 100% bonus sounds pretty nice.
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You're welcome! Thanks for building stuff with Hive.
The new one looks like it's made with great material that will make it more durable
Yes, much stronger wood than the last one. There is no comparison!
!discovery 25