My First Woodworking Project: Palette Wood Coffee Table Part 2

My Palette Wood Coffee Table is DONE!! Kinda!

Let me show you how the finishing went and the products that I used to achieve the look I got.

This is the stain and poly I used.

This is the table top and legs with one coat, ignore that left most leg it has two, it was serving as a test leg.

This is what they look like after 4 thin coats with hand sanding of 220 grit sand paper in between coats. I was really going for that polished smooth look and feel and I definitely achieved it going that route.

This is what they look like after 4 thin coats with hand sanding of 220 grit sand paper in between coats. I was really going for that polished smooth look and feel and I definitely achieved it going that route.

I decided to use screw dowels to attach my legs as we are a military family and move often I wanted them to be easily removed. In order to do that I had to install blocks to have something to attach the legs to so they could tighten and loosen freely.


This is the glue I used.

I measured out where the holes on the legs were and transferred them to my blocks, then I glued and clamped them.

I also used this wax to protect the wood from wear and tear.

Then I simply screwed the legs in.

And the table is done...But wait! one of the legs ended up being loose due to the factory dowel hole being slightly bigger than it is supposed to be. As a solution I plan on filling it with a wooden dowel with glue and sawing off the access and drilling a new hole of the proper size. 

I am very pleased with my very first woodworking project. I have made so many mistakes during this project that it is easier to give you the edited version because holy smokes the troubles I have had due to lack of experience. 

I will do an update if I change anything and of where I place it in my home. 

Next Project:

Baby Changing Table

Here is the inspiration for it!

This is not my picture, but it is basically what I am going for. I have little experience, so I want something sturdy and safe that I can make myself. The top will be deeper to accommodate the larger changing pad that I use for work as well as adding some custom features like hooks on side and a basket to hold diapers. I hope you follow along as I build the baby items that I need. I am due in 4 months, so I have to get in gear!

Thank you for reading,

-Alexandra 

My First Woodworking Project: Palette Wood Coffee Table Part 1

Palette wood I used.

Frame for the table top.

I used the pocket hole system with my Kreg Jig.

Joined two pieces of wood to act as a sub-top.

I also used pocket holes to join it.

Here is the assembly of the sub-top and the frame.

From underneath.

I glue and nailed the palette wood.

I do not own a planer or a jointer, so unfortunately this will be a very rustic table as far as squaring is concerned. 

I gave it a rough sand at 60-80-100 grit in that order, set it aside to go on the hunt for legs I thought would go well with the style of my home. 

I picked these out from Home Depot, I stuck them on this scrap 2x4 so I could sand and stain them in a safe place.

That is all for this post as I am in the middle of sanding and staining the legs and the table. My next post will have the completed table, with all of the steps photographed of course. I hope you enjoyed this post, please share it if you did and leave a comment if you have any suggestions or tips for another project. 

Thanks for reading,

-Alexandra

Intro to: Figure It Out: My Woodworking Journey Blog

FIGURE IT OUT: MY WOODWORKING JOURNEY

     Hey there, my name is Alexandra, I have recently started my journey as a woodworker and I would like you to come along for the ride as I "Figure It Out", (see what I did there...) Around October of 2014 my husband told me go out and get the tools that I have been wanting to buy for so long and get started on this hobby. I of course jumped at the opportunity to finally chase this dream of building my own furniture and having my very own shop.

     I will back up about 13 years to my first wood shop class in the 6th grade, I was 10 in the 6th grade don't judge me haha. Anyways, I had the best shop teacher, she was smart and very creative, She had us sketch our designs on paper first, including the dimensions, then build it on CAD, before we finally got into the shop to build our projects. We made puzzles, boxes, animals and loads of small simple projects. I had this class for a total of 3 years and man the 10+ year gap from then to now has been killing me!!

     Luckily my Father has always been into woodworking and is a pretty handy mechanic as well, so I have always had access to his shop. We built beds, cabinets, desks, and fixed stuff around the house as we moved around with the Army. Then this weird thing called growing up and moving out happened and I found myself without a shop for about 5 years as the Navy took my husband and I all over. Plus we don't have a lot of free money just lying about and this hobby is ridiculously expensive to start. So fast forward to now, I am nearly done with my very first completely on my own project.

     I will be writing a separate blog post detailing that entire build from start to finish and I even have video to share, so I hope you will enjoy that as well. This journey has been a long time in the making and I have a lot of project to get through, because I am pregnant with my first baby! I have some fun projects in mind for her and I kinda need to get them done before she makes an appearance. Not to mention I will start back up working in a couple of weeks so things will get a little crazy so bare with me!!!

-If you are at all interested in my pregnancy and how it is going I will leave a link at the bottom to the YouTube channel that I update that on.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheOtherSideOfAlex

-If you are interested in following my woodworking journey then you can Subscribe to the YouTube Channel that I update that on.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMwhq5Pi_g4eAA-L1d5c2MQ

Thank you so much for your interest,

Please leave me a comment about your first project, I think that would be interesting to see what other people decided to build first.

-Alexandra