Share your craft projects
Make new craft buddies
Ask craft questions
Blog your craft journey
crowie
495 posts
and
34 followers
in over 1 year
in over 1 year
More from crowie
Not quite a toy but ready for toys to play upon!
Not quite a toy but ready for toys to play upon!
The young builder & his wife across the road had a little boy 3 months ago so the house has to be rearranged ready for the little blokes pulling up and playing on and with everything. I've already given them a couple of smaller toys ready for him to enjoy playing with.
They had an old coffee table in their lounge room that wouldn't have been safe for the little blokes exploring.
Josh had recently done a reno on an old house and saved all the the old Aussie hardwood framing, then asked "do you think you could make us a coffee table".
I needed something to keep busy as our daughter was in hospital with pneumonia just 8 days after the arrival of our sixth grandchild, a boy, Marcus.
Her hospitalization was 4 weeks including major surgery to clean the lung, it's been a difficult couple of months for all especially her who is now on a long recovery.
The table was a welcome distraction and steep learning curve as Josh then said he'd like it as an "end grain" table...WOW!
I de-nailed the old Aussie hardwood, put it through the thicknesser, then glued the boards to together.
The next task was slicing the lot into 40mm strips on my 10" Bosch Contractors Tablesaw [it didn't like that process] before again another glue up.
The glued end grain pieces weren't quite wide enough so I added an old fence rail to the sides for extra width.
The whole board then needed to be surfaced and made flat so onto eBay for some "linear rails" to make up a router sled.
Mean while the cracks, splits, holes and defects were filled with Ice Epoxy Resin plus the smaller holes with Starbond CA.
First attempt, the old Makita D Handle router [from my passed father-in-law] collet failed but "spares not available, bother!
I purchased a new secondhand Bosch Professional 1300W [Made in USA] router and along with the Carbitool surfacing bit got the table flat [just 3.5hrs].
[Thank you Ian for your advice]
The next process was to add a skirt/border around the whole table which was glued, screwed and plugged in place before hours & hours of sanding.
I was fortunate enough to score the purchase of a beaut secondhand Bosch Professional Turbo Sander from a forum member to assist with this task.
[Thank you Peter]
AND FINALLY the table is ready for 4 coats of my homemade wipe-on-ploy along with sanding between coats plus a top coat of Satin Poly to finish.
What an effort for a toymaker as it took up all of my shed and more for nearly 2 months but a top learning experience.
Cheers crowie
PS - Old Aussie Hardwood is beautiful but some damn hard & heavy!
The young builder & his wife across the road had a little boy 3 months ago so the house has to be rearranged ready for the little blokes pulling up and playing on and with everything. I've already given them a couple of smaller toys ready for him to enjoy playing with.
They had an old coffee table in their lounge room that wouldn't have been safe for the little blokes exploring.
Josh had recently done a reno on an old house and saved all the the old Aussie hardwood framing, then asked "do you think you could make us a coffee table".
I needed something to keep busy as our daughter was in hospital with pneumonia just 8 days after the arrival of our sixth grandchild, a boy, Marcus.
Her hospitalization was 4 weeks including major surgery to clean the lung, it's been a difficult couple of months for all especially her who is now on a long recovery.
The table was a welcome distraction and steep learning curve as Josh then said he'd like it as an "end grain" table...WOW!
I de-nailed the old Aussie hardwood, put it through the thicknesser, then glued the boards to together.
The next task was slicing the lot into 40mm strips on my 10" Bosch Contractors Tablesaw [it didn't like that process] before again another glue up.
The glued end grain pieces weren't quite wide enough so I added an old fence rail to the sides for extra width.
The whole board then needed to be surfaced and made flat so onto eBay for some "linear rails" to make up a router sled.
Mean while the cracks, splits, holes and defects were filled with Ice Epoxy Resin plus the smaller holes with Starbond CA.
First attempt, the old Makita D Handle router [from my passed father-in-law] collet failed but "spares not available, bother!
I purchased a new secondhand Bosch Professional 1300W [Made in USA] router and along with the Carbitool surfacing bit got the table flat [just 3.5hrs].
[Thank you Ian for your advice]
The next process was to add a skirt/border around the whole table which was glued, screwed and plugged in place before hours & hours of sanding.
I was fortunate enough to score the purchase of a beaut secondhand Bosch Professional Turbo Sander from a forum member to assist with this task.
[Thank you Peter]
AND FINALLY the table is ready for 4 coats of my homemade wipe-on-ploy along with sanding between coats plus a top coat of Satin Poly to finish.
What an effort for a toymaker as it took up all of my shed and more for nearly 2 months but a top learning experience.
Cheers crowie
PS - Old Aussie Hardwood is beautiful but some damn hard & heavy!
Life’s Good, Enjoy Each New Day’s Blessings
24 Comments
An end grain cutting board is a pita forget a whole table. Nice work repurposing old timbers. Real nice looking table
awesome table crowie. what a cool thing to do. they had to love that table ! hey, old is that first router ?
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
Well done, Peter, that has some beautiful grain and patina. You are now a seasoned craftsman who has moved on from the realm of toys.
Main Street to the Mountains
awesome table crowie. what a cool thing to do. they had to love that table ! hey, old is that first router ?
Thank you Pottz.
The old Makita Router would have had to be over 40yrs old.
I rebuilt it twice with new bearings and brushes.
A local woodworking mate said he had the same router with a dud armature so I gave it to him to make one from two.
Life’s Good, Enjoy Each New Day’s Blessings
yeah those old tools cant compare in quality with most of the stuff today. we dont repair anymore, it's dump it and get a new one now......sad !
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
Neat job crowie... thanks for those build happy snaps.
Looks like you made quite a few purchases for a gift... very generous. Sounds like you bought the linear gear for this project. Is it and/or do you plan to make it more height adjustable (outside the router plunge capacity?... if that's what you are depending on).
I'd be interested on where you bought the linear gear (local???) and how much? Most sites I found didn't quote prices. I'm not mechanical enough to search by name... I depend on visual pictures.
Details/build of that leveling setup could be a good subject for a blog.
Looks like you made quite a few purchases for a gift... very generous. Sounds like you bought the linear gear for this project. Is it and/or do you plan to make it more height adjustable (outside the router plunge capacity?... if that's what you are depending on).
I'd be interested on where you bought the linear gear (local???) and how much? Most sites I found didn't quote prices. I'm not mechanical enough to search by name... I depend on visual pictures.
Details/build of that leveling setup could be a good subject for a blog.
...... my 10" Bosch Contractors Tablesaw [it didn't like that process].....
Been telling that to pottzy for years.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
Gosh, Peter! That’s a whole new world for you. Looks like a wonderful result.
May you have the day you deserve!
give it up duckie !!!!
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
Hi Peter,
That sure was a mammoth task...but those sort of jobs are very rewarding and give us a great experience in wood working.
Excellent Project Peter.......Regards......Cliff.
That sure was a mammoth task...but those sort of jobs are very rewarding and give us a great experience in wood working.
Excellent Project Peter.......Regards......Cliff.
Looks like you made quite a few purchases for a gift... very generous. Sounds like you bought the linear gear for this project. Is it and/or do you plan to make it more height adjustable (outside the router plunge capacity?... if that's what you are depending on).
I'd be interested on where you bought the linear gear (local???) and how much? Most sites I found didn't quote prices. I'm not mechanical enough to search by name... I depend on visual pictures.
Details/build of that leveling setup could be a good subject for a blog.
Alex, The linear bearings setup was a supposed local eBay warehouse 😁
The costs were reduced/refunded after some shipping damage and delivery issues.
I originally mounted the router on top of the bearings on the rails but it was way too high so I had to make a “Z” attachment mount. It gives me nearly 50mm of working thickness.
The base is 5/8” ply on a braced 4x2 frame and jolly heavy.
On the “gift” suggestion, the young builder is giving me some of his time to convert a bifold door unit into a trifold door unit between our dining room & sunroom to accommodate the now larger family gatherings.
The costs were reduced/refunded after some shipping damage and delivery issues.
I originally mounted the router on top of the bearings on the rails but it was way too high so I had to make a “Z” attachment mount. It gives me nearly 50mm of working thickness.
The base is 5/8” ply on a braced 4x2 frame and jolly heavy.
On the “gift” suggestion, the young builder is giving me some of his time to convert a bifold door unit into a trifold door unit between our dining room & sunroom to accommodate the now larger family gatherings.
Life’s Good, Enjoy Each New Day’s Blessings
Well done, Peter, that has some beautiful grain and patina. You are now a seasoned craftsman who has moved on from the realm of toys.
Now way Eric, Toymaking is my stock and trade. The work area in my shed is way too small. In fact I’ve started an Instagram “offcutsonly” challenge to build a new rat rod truck for our newest grandson. Inspection is from Steve Darnell’s trucks.
Life’s Good, Enjoy Each New Day’s Blessings
Peter, that looks like a rewarding project. A challenge too by the looks of it. How rewarding though.
Cheers
Cheers
Kerry - Working with wood, the smell the feel, is such a joy, its a meditation of sorts.
Glad that your daughter's recovery is going well, nothing worse than a sick loved one.
As for the end grain table top, super job, looks great.
As for the end grain table top, super job, looks great.
Real nice job of putting all those old lumber pieces together, Peter. I love your router planing fixture.
Cheers, Jim ........................ Variety is the spice of life...............Learn something new every day
Well done, good looking as well.
Ron
Nicely done. Good thoughts towards your daughter’s recovery…
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
Unbelievable!, really nice, and all the best for the family.
TimV, "The understanding eye sees the maker's fingerprints, they are evident in every detail, leave Fingerprints." James Krenov
WOW! I hope you were properly paid for this bit of beauty!
Steven- Random Orbital Nailer
Thank you folks for your kind words of encouragement and support. Our daughter is on a slow recovery road but very much on the mend now, thank God. Our new grandson is doing well too.
Life’s Good, Enjoy Each New Day’s Blessings
More from crowie
