I made a table!

TABLE!!

By far, my longest lasting and hardest project. This project has taught me a lot about patience and woodworking in general. It required me to get tools, like a hand plane, and to learn basic woodworking techniques. 

The original design was to make a table to hold a large lizard tank. The plan slowly shifted into building a workbench and the resulting table is heavy, sturdy and awesome!

Prepare the wood

The wood was stud grade pine 2"x4" and 4"x4". Nothing fancy but I was able to get all the pieces for around $60, with some lumber to spare. The cheap wood sometimes caused issues but it was great to practice on since I made a lot of mistakes. Once the wood was bought and the design was done, it was time to rip the wood into the right sized pieces!

The wood has been bought

The master leaves his mark

The wood has been all chopped up!

All woodworking requires adequate supervision

Don't cut tenons like this...

Seriously though...

It worked!

All 4 legs are ready

Make the Table Top

The table top was made by planing 2"x4" studs and gluing them side-by-side. I ended up having to deal with the warped boards because I glued them on the short side instead of the long side. The table would have been too heavy if I had done this, so I think 2"x2" would be better next time. Or maybe I could buy nicer wood. ;)

More supervision

The table top is ready!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I made the mistake of cutting one mortis hole out of the table top before making the apron. It wasn't a dealbreaker but it meant that I was now committed to the placement of my apron and I couldn't adjust anything to account for mistakes. It still worked, but next time I would do all 4 mortises at the same time.

Make the Apron

I watched this Paul Sellers video on how to make a mortis and tenon with a hammer and chisel. Mistakes were made but it all looks pretty good and it is super sturdy! I was saved by making my own wood filler from sawdust, ask Home Depot for it by the bag load, and wood glue. It isn't perfect but it can bridge a large gap between a mortis and tenon while still being as strong as wood.

Marking out the mortis

2/8 mortises complete!

Oops! I broke the top of a mortis but wood filler made it all better!

The apron was dry fitted and is ready to be glued!

Apron is all glued!

Glue it up!

IT'S A TABLE! Still work to be done, but it is now a table.

Finishing Touches

The table as a whole is sturdy and a single piece, but the legs are uneven because I didn't think to square off the bottoms and make sure they are all the same length. PATIENCE! Still working on that part and planing the table top. I also will add a shelf to hold the tools below the table, just a sheet of plywood on top of two horizontal beams on the short end of the table. Maybe also a chamfer or rounded edges for the whole table?

The next step will be a stain of some kind, maybe Danish Oil. I need something that won't chip or crack but can protect the wood from the damage I will be putting it through.

I will then be able to modify the table as needed. I plan to add a vice to make cutting easier and maybe even a roller thing to hold dropcloths, butcher paper and other things I will drape over the table.

 

Final Thoughts

What an amazing project! Thank you to my buddy Weecho for all the teaching, advice and patience he had while getting me started. The table design was his, as well as the tools used in the beginning of the project while I was still buying them. I learned most of all to be patient. Squeezing in an hour of rushed work before I go out somewhere will usually cost me even more time later fixing that mistake. I also dug out the table top mortises with a drill at first and the bit was WAY too big. This caused some cracks on the table top. :( I wasn't getting anywhere with the chisel because of how hard the lumber was.

I learned about some different joints and the tools used to make them. I like the chisel made tenon/mortis system, easy to make and super sturdy. Just not the prettiest for a table top when you might not get the fit just perfect. I learned how to take the time to sharpen a chisel for ultimate performance. I also learned how to restore an old hand plane and use it for smoothing out surfaces.

Overall, I'm proud of what I've built and I plan to keep this table around for years while always modifying it in some form or fashion.

Restoring a Hand Plane

Hand Plane Restored!

Success! I watched this Paul Sellers' tutorial on restoring a hand plane I bought off eBay, and it worked! I went for a Stanley Bailey #5 hand plane, per the recommendation from the tutorial. It is solid steel and  basically indestructible. I found this plane totally rusted and with a bright thumb spot where the previous owner must have had some cyan paint on his gloves. The blade was nicked and the shellac on the wood was cracked and discolored. I'll go over the process of how I restored it in a weekend!

Edit: I did some research and discovered that this plane was made somewhere between 1948-1961! Super old!

Supplies

Hand plane (you can find this on eBay or anywhere online)

3 n 1 oil (any hardware store has this)

Shellac (I went with amber but that's your call)

Brush (any paint brush willl work but it'll probably not be reusable)

Rags (I got 6 for $4 at Target!)

Wire brush (you just need this to get the rust off the screws)

Steel wool #0000

Sandpaper - 120 and 220 grit (can get it from Amazon or a hardware store)

Sharpening stones - 400 800 1200 grit (something like this)

Gloves (helps keep the hands clean!)

Just a whole bunch of rust waiting to shine

Step 0.5

Watch the whole Paul Sellers' tutorial! He goes into better detail than I will and he has so much knowledge about tools and the whole process. He's a great resource for anything related to woodworking. Don't forget to take note of how old this tool looks, as it will soon look brand new!

Step 1

I would put on gloves now. Also make sure you either don't care about your working surface or you can protect it somehow. It WILL get covered in rust, steel and wood dust. Take off the blade to keep it from being scratched, then sand all the rust off the bottom and the sides. This takes a while and you need to make sure you keep the bottom of the sole flat. If that warps, you won't plane correctly. I would go ahead and remove all rust from all steel components. Take everything apart, you're going to do that soon anyway.

Before and after sanding the sides with sand paper

Step 2

Scrape all the old finish off the wood. This works if you use the side of a chisel, or any sharp steel. Make sure you don't gouge the wood, then sand it softly.

Step 3

Apply the new Shellac and oil all moving pieces. I did 3 coats of Shellac with about an hour of HBO GO in between. No need to rush. Steel wool and some oil will help smooth the shellac once it dries completely.

Ready to plane!

Photo Transfers on to Wood

Transfer Photos on to Wood (or anything else probably)

After buying some creations from local craft fairs, I set out to make awesome photo tranfers! I did my research and settled on two different methods: Mod Podge method  and Wood Burning method.

Required Materials:

Wood to transfer to (can be a different medium)

Printed image(s) to transfer (use a laser jet printer)

Sandpaper

Patience

Mod Podge Method:

Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium

Bone Folder

Mod Podge Sealer

Wood Burner Method:

Wood Burning Tool

Infrared Thermometer (Suggested)

Shared Steps:

Sand the wood! The smoother the better because bumps WILL show through the transferred ink.

Pick and print your design. PRINT EXTRAS!

Cut your design out. Try to be as accurate as possible and pick a simpler shape than I did. :)

Here is where the steps diverge. I'll go over Mod Podge then the Wood Burner.

Mod Podge Steps:

Cover the INK SIDE of the paper in Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium. You can cover the wood instead but I've found covering the paper to be a little cleaner in the end. Both ways work.

Use your bone folder to flatten out the paper then clean up any excess that leaks out.

Let it dry for AT LEAST 8 hours.

Wet the paper with a towel or paper towel. Get it pretty wet but not dripping. Then go to town with your towel or fingers to rub away the paper. Be careful not to remove the ink! I did that and you can see the results.

Voila! Your fish turns into a tree! The full paper turned out better than the fish shape. You can see the spots where the uneven wood affected the outcome, as well as where I rubbed away the ink. Learning curve!

Use a brush to apply the Mod Podge Sealer. I went with a matte finish to make it less shiny. Feel free to do multiple coats!

Admire your work! :)

Wood Burner Steps:

Heat up your wood burner with a flat tip attached. Turn the paper INK SIDE DOWN and run the flat tip across the paper. Be careful not to burn the wood! I never use my wood burner without an infrared thermometer! EVER!

The bottom image is the result of the Wood Burner transfer. The above fish is me testing some pyrography with the different tips that came with the wood burner tool.

The same tree picture as the Mod Podge method. Note the burned circle by the trunk.

It's a learning process, what did I learn?

The Mod Podge process is MUCH slower than the wood burning process. Unless I did Mod Podge wrong, the wood burner seems to be better for outlines while the Mod Podge is better for full images. That being said, you can control how much ink is transferred when using the wood transfer method, but not with the Mod Podge. Both approaches make good cheap present ideas that can be thoughtful and personalized for the gift recipient. 

Next step, CANVAS!