Today I decided to do something a bit different using facebook. As I was going along I was snapping pictures and describing what I was doing as I built a kitchen table for High Point Fire Department. I didn’t leave anyone out so I will do a short blog about the build so far. If you would like to follow along please go to My Facebook Page. Tomorrow I will be trying to get the top attached and get the table stained.
Obviously the first step was to gather materials. For the table this includes the following: 1-4′x8′ sheet oak plywood, 2-8′ treated 4×4′s, 4- 8′ 2×4′s. Also handy would be some 2″ and 1 1/2″ screws or even lag bolts. For the bench you can get 2- 2″x10″x12′ yellow pine’s.
For this project I attempted to use ONLY hand tools, but I don’t have a hand drill, so I hand to use a power drill. I also do not use a measuring tape. In another article I will explain how to create/use a story stick. Here we go!!!!
I found a comfortable height, grabbed a 4×4 and marked it. Laid it on the bench and got to sawing away. After that I would just use the first leg I cut to mark the other 3 legs. The last 3 legs were cut on the line instead of just to the side (this keeps them uniform in length).
(Forgot to take picture) Legs were set aside and I grabbed a 2×4. I then laid it up against the plywood until I found a length I would cut it at. I grabbed a second 2×4 and matched the first ones length. I repeated this step for the two short ends.
I then took the legs, aprons, and table top and laid them out on my saw horses (actually it’s my picnic table. I now realize I need some saw horses.) I made sure everything was square and fit to my liking around the table tops edge.
I then drilled two different holes. The first (smaller one) was drilled for the actual screw to go into. The second (umm, bigger one) was drilled so I could cover the screw with a plug. After all the holes are drilled you can attach the legs and aprons together.
I then went around with a square and a story stick making sure the the frame was squared up with the table top and it was evenly spaced around the edge.
After everything was square on the outside I eyeballed the center of the frame to place a center member for more support. I attached one side then used the square and marked for the placement of the opposite side. Drilled some holes and placed some screws in.
To keep everything square I cut out 4 corner braces. Here I’m using my vintage miter box (j/k bought it last year).
It’s nice to have 4 duplicate corner braces all roughly a forearms length long.
This is your take away shot. Dinner was needing to be made and this was a good stopping point. I was able to get all the braces attached. Hope you have enjoyed this.