DIY Coffee Table
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Using a straight edge cut both 2x6’s in half so you now have 4 48” boards.
Clamp or have someone hold these 4 boards together while you attach the end straps. You can pre-drill these holes if you like.
Add a stain or leave unfinished. I used Minwax Early American stain, and then sealed it with two coats of wipe-on poly.
I inset the legs 8 inches and centered from each end. Attach with included hardware, and pre-drill your holes if desired.
This is the most basic/DIY version of this coffee table that uses limited tools. Now lets step it up a notch…
Version 2 involves using reclaimed oak tongue & groove flooring that came out of a clydesdale horse barn here in Oklahoma City. Instead of putting the end strap on the edge I inlaid it into the bottom of the table top where it will keep this table flat.
I picked through the stack to find the best pieces. This wood was provided by Vintage Reclaimed Lumber , and is valued at around $200 for the 20 foot of boards I received. This sounds like a lot of money for a few boards, but this is some of the most beautiful wood I’ve ever used. The quality of the hardware and the quality and look of this wood will allow me to price and sell this coffee table for around $1200.
I cut these boards down to 4 lengths around 57” each using a miter saw.
I planed these boards from 1 1/2 inch to a bit over 1 1/4 inch removing much of the grime and weathered wood on the surface. These boards were very flat and did not require jointing first.
My original plan was to leave the tongue and groove. You can see how these boards are not straight down the length, and I decided to rip off the tongue and grooves on the table saw. I laid out the boards how I wanted them, and drew a large triangle so I could put them back in the same order after cutting. I made sure to mark the tongue side on one edge, and the groove side on the other edge so I would remember to not cut these ends off.
I am using half inch dowels, so I marked out alignment holes where I would cut in the dowels to each face of the boards. I put in 4 dowels on each edge of these boards.
I used this self centering doweling jig to quickly cut in holes for the 1/2” dowels I used. The stop collar on the drill bit ensures I only drill 3/4” into each side of the board to match the 1 1/2” long dowel.
Add dowels and glue, and assemble the table top. I used pipe clamps to hold the table together while the glue dried.
Before filling the knot holes with epoxy I used aluminum tape on the bottom of the table to shore up the holes so the epoxy does not leak through.
I mixed up a batch of two part Total Boat resin and added black pigment. I poured the epoxy into the large knot holes, and then used this dental syringe to get epoxy down into the small knots and cracks.
I use a heat gun to slightly heat up the epoxy over pour, and then scrape off the excess with a putty knife.
I had a gap I needed to address so I filled it with wood glue, and rubbed in sawdust leftover from cutting these boards. Always save some sawdust!
I trimmed the table top down to 48 inches. I used a piece of plywood clamped down as a cutting guide. The blade of my saw is 1 5/8” from the edge of the face plate, so I clamped my straight edge down 1 15/8 “ off the line I needed to cut.
The end straps were inlaid 3 inches from the outside edge of the table on the underside. I traced the metal strap, and again used a straightedge. It was offset 1 3/8”, and I moved it over 1/2” to cut in the second side of the 1 inch wide groove. (I used a 1/2” straight router bit)
The router leaves these rounded corners that I cleaned up with a chisel.
I sanded the table up to 220 grit. This next part is optional, and I skipped over talking about it in the video because I did not want it to be confusing. The epoxy fills need a finer grit sanding to get a nice smooth finish. After sanding with 220 grit I sand with 600 grit, 1200 grit, and last 2000 grit. I sand the entire table top to 2000 grit, and I find this gives an amazing finish to reclaimed oak. The wood is so smooth it’s almost glass like.
I added two coats of Maker Brand Co Simple Finish w/ Wax. The above mentioned sanding finish, plus Simple Finish is my new favorite technique for finishing furniture. It looks and feels amazing.
I laid in the metal straps into the groove I routed on the underside of the table. I elongated each of these holes to account for wood movement.
I inset the table legs 7 3/4 inches from the ends, pre-drilled all my screw holes, and attached the legs with screws.
“She’s a beaut, Clark!” -Clark Griswald Sr.