Jasahan Posted July 18, 2014 Report Share Posted July 18, 2014 We have been working on a custom ordered "community table" for a coffee shops for about 5 weeks now. Should have only taken three, but my wife had a baby and then a million little things were getting in the way. I've been excited about this piece because the shop's interior design is way up my alley - modern with lots of reclaimed materials. Clean lines, but not cold. Finally got some finish on the top yesterday, and it looks awesome. Today I was finishing up the joinery on the base and then assembling. I was going to pin all the joints with dowels. Before I start drilling the holes, I decide to try the "draw bored" method. The table's huge, and I figured any added strength would be goo. Now, I've never tried it before, and of course I didn't bother making some test pieces. I maked and drilled all my holes, basically "eye-balling" the off-set on the inner pieces. I go to assemble and find that nothing lines up at all. Not only did I offset too much, but I didn't make sure my drill press was square, so it was all extra wack. So I start trying to make stuff work, and fix stuff by drilling out material (defeating the purpose) and cracked some wood and basically screwed stuff up. Ended up attaching parts with lag bolts. The "pins" will be just for show. Basically, the lesson was, if you're going to try something to push your skill, don't wing it on a custom ordered piece of furniture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted July 18, 2014 Report Share Posted July 18, 2014 Sounds like a lesson learned to me.. I'm glad you were able to pull it off and make it work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted July 18, 2014 Report Share Posted July 18, 2014 First, congrats on the birth!!! Second, congrats on the birth!! Last, glad to be here to allow you to vent, I am sure your kid would not understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted July 18, 2014 Report Share Posted July 18, 2014 Isn't learning a pain in the butt? Well, a fix is a fix. glad it worked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missioninwood Posted July 19, 2014 Report Share Posted July 19, 2014 Comes up on the forum time and time again: effectively recovering from a mistake is a sign of mastery in itself. miw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasahan Posted July 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2014 Thanks guys. If I get time, I'll post about the build, and go into more detail about my mistakes. The discipline would be to actually learn the lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodbutcher74 Posted July 19, 2014 Report Share Posted July 19, 2014 Congrats Dad As far as your build, I feel for ya. Nothing worse than having a project in the final stages and being all proud and have something going wrong . Even though you got things patched up it's still not the same, but nothing ventured nothing gained.You'll knock em dead the next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasahan Posted July 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2014 Yeah, I am happy about the baby. And I should focus on that. We have a little girl, and this one's a boy. I think the problem was my pride. I was so excited about my design that I didn't carefully plan everything out. The base is together now. And looks pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted July 19, 2014 Report Share Posted July 19, 2014 The lesson learned will pay off in the future. Do we get some pictures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 19, 2014 Report Share Posted July 19, 2014 I also learned the hard way not to test out new techniques on a project. Play with some scraps and find your errors then use on a job. I also do the least visible joints first so my best work is on the most visible. I call it the practice effect, improvement through repetition . Please post some pictures and congrats on the growing family! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted July 19, 2014 Report Share Posted July 19, 2014 A bad day in the shop is better than a good day at work! Seriously though, a good recovery is also something to be happy with. Lesson learned - keep building and keep learning. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasahan Posted July 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2014 I'm going to try to do a write up, but if I can't, I will post some pics. Just a couple more coats of poly and it's all done. I'll try to get some pics outside and in its new home. Our shop is a mess and poorly lit, so makes for terrible pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasahan Posted July 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Here's a quick pic of the table in its new home. 9' x 30". Heavy as all get out. Iron acetate to color with three coats poly. All mixed wood from pallets. They liked it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted July 22, 2014 Report Share Posted July 22, 2014 Very cool table Jasahan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 Lag bolts are all the rage on the name brand designer reclaimed furniture (see Restoration Hardware. Ballard, etc). You're a man of the zeitgeist! And congrats on the kid, my friend. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 Looks sharp to me ! Glad I didn't have to carry it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 Really cool color. Maybe its the angle, but it looks a little top heavy to me. Are the feet really a good bit narrower than the top, or is that an illusion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasahan Posted July 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 Really cool color. Maybe its the angle, but it looks a little top heavy to me. Are the feet really a good bit narrower than the top, or is that an illusion? The table top is in fact heavier than the base. The feet are 22" wide while the top is 30" (an improvement from the original 18"). I admit I was a little nervous before assembling. But the table is immensely stable. There's no movement in the base. I don't think I'll have issues with racking since the M&T's are so large and also pinned (they actually are; it's the tops and bottoms of the pedestals that are lag bolted). And it does't tip. I climbed on top of it and it felt sturdy the whole time. I think because the base still has considerable weight, and the whole table is very heavy (easily a couple hundred pounds), it keeps the center of gravity low and just pins the whole piece to the ground. I also really love the color. While I certainly don't think iron acetate is perfect for every situation, I really do love the tones it produces. And the deep blue-black you get from oak. And I love it for our stuff, since it's all mixed woods and generally on the "rustic" side. It showcases the mixed species but in complimentary tones. I'm surprised how little difference there can be between even oak and maple with an oil based stain (I know this because we just finished two smaller desks/tables whose tops were equal parts oak and maple, accidentally.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kendallstrand Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 Looks great! How thick is that top? It looks like you got the wood from the most burly pallets every made! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasahan Posted July 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 It is 1.5". And yes, we get some crazy figure sometimes. Obviously we get a lot of junk. About 2/3 is firewood. But I am astonished at some of the crazy grain and figure we get. I think it's because the wood isn't sorted at all, so the "defects" that cause the cool stuff are still there. Unless of course by "burly" you meant beefy. Then yes. We get them from a machine shop that stamps out metal parts form enormous rolls of sheet metal. So the rolls are shipped on the pallets. And they are chunky. The pedestals are 3.75" square. We don't get much that big. But a lot are pretty chunky. For anyone considering doing something with pallet wood, that would be my recommendation for a source. All the wood's untreated. It's almost all hardwoods (oak, ash, maple, sycamore, and surprisingly poplar; we also get big chunks of pine). And they're not that hard to get apart because each is only 4 pieces of wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kendallstrand Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 Welp, I just committed my first public woodworking misnomer. I didn't even consider the word burly to mean anything other than beefy when I was typing. To add salt to the wound my naievity kept me from thinking that pallets would ever need to be build sturdier than to hold a few cases of our favorite adult beverages. Pretty cool source you've got there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 Yeah, I am happy about the baby. And I should focus on that. We have a little girl, and this one's a boy. I think the problem was my pride. I was so excited about my design that I didn't carefully plan everything out. On the pride, design, and careful planning, your are talking about the table, right Just kidding The two sentences together like that, I couldn't resist!! Congrats on the new arrival and I think you guys turned out a neat looking table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted July 23, 2014 Report Share Posted July 23, 2014 Here's a quick pic of the table in its new home. 9' x 30". Heavy as all get out. Iron acetate to color with three coats poly. All mixed wood from pallets. They liked it. Ah, now that's nice..... Where are the benches? Are they next? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasahan Posted July 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2014 Ah, now that's nice..... Where are the benches? Are they next? They're getting chairs from someone else. Unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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