Tag Archives: table

Woodworking: Finally finishing a small table from woodshop class (Part 2) (Originally published 12-22-2020)

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I’m rerunning this post from 2020 this week. I will return to the cutting board project next week.

I left off last week with the thought that the stripped screw extractor bits I had purchased for the end table would work with this one. Well, I ran into some issues.

The end table had wood screws that were soft. Not a lot of convincing had to be done in order to remove those. It was fun to remove those screws. This had three main things working against my effort:

  1. The screw is made of hard steel. It’s amazing that the screwhead was stripped at all, but because it was, there it stayed for decades.
  2. The screw was there at all to keep pressure for glue that was drying. It was like using loctite.
  3. The screw was a slotted round head. This is massively different from a Phillips flat-head.
Phillips flat head.
Slotted round head.

The Phillips flat head is easier to extract. All you have to do is clear out the drive (i.e. where the screwdriver meets the screw) with a drill bit and use the extractor bit to grab the sides of the cone you’ve drilled out.

But a round head screw needs to be drilled out way more in order to turn the drive into a usable cone.

After significant time trying to drill out the screw with my old Craftsman bits, I started to wonder if it was a better idea just to drill away the head and leave the headless screw where it was. But I kept going because that wasn’t what I’d set out to do. I was going to remove this screw!

That upper screw on the right side was causing me so much pain.

And I kept on going.

Feeling defeated, I decided I’d give it one last go. Out it came. My initial thought of how happy I was to be rid of the screw right before giving up was replaced by the thought that it wasn’t the first last chance I had pledged. That gave way to a feeling of relief that had built up over 20 years.

There was so much work ahead of me. I had intended to countersink the screw heads and fill with wood putty. I also had the split at the top to try to glue back together without tearing apart the entire table. I didn’t see exactly how it was going to happen, but it certainly was worth a try.

I researched wood putty and wood filler. Based on reviews, I ended up buying Minwax Stainable Wood Filler. It comes in a squeeze tube, so application isn’t so cumbersome.

The screws that needed to be countersunk were already in my possession! I had researched screws for the other end table refinish project, and this was my chance to use the Robertson wood screws. It’d be the first time I’d use a square drive screw head.

https://www.fastenere.com/12-x-2-12-square-drive-bugle-head-deck-screws-stainless-steel-18-8-qty-50

After all that, I’d have to sand everything down to smooth it out and get rid of the stains that had accumulated over time. Then the teak oil.

More next week.

Woodworking: Kitchen Cart Workbench Project (Part 2)

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Last week I left off having installed the mounts for the vise to this workbench.

The focus this week was to attach the mounts for the belt sander disc sander combo.

This stage was delayed dramatically by the excessive winds we have had in LA and the rain in LA. I also diverted a lot of my time on Sunday to my next project, a cutting board from scratch. You’ll see this workbench in the next series without the anchors for anything but the vise.

As usual, I started out with drawing where the holes would be.

And to keep the holes vertical, I made use of the bubble level.

I stepped up one bit at a time so as to avoid any mistakes.

They were shaping up nicely.

Cleaning up the debris took about five seconds with the Vacmaster.

For easier insertion of the anchors while preserving maximum bite, I drilled out the tops of each hole to make it stepped.

See?

And there. I didn’t care about the tearout because this is a workbench.

Finally time to put in the anchors. There are only two mounting holes for this belt sander disc sander combo. I think if I’d designed it, I’d have made it with three or four mounts, but the manufacturer clearly thought that would be overkill. And in my uses of it to date, I haven’t yet disagreed.

That wouldn’t do, of course.

Far superior.

Perfect.

Same process for the other anchor,

All six mounts flat against the surface. No protrusions and full grip. Very proud!

But did I align it properly?

Yes!

And yes!

Next week will be the conclusion of this series with the installation of the table saw. I won’t take the same approach as I had for the coffee table for a reason you’ll see then.

Woodworking: Coffee Table Workbench Project (revisited)

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I am going to have yet another workbench project coming up because I’ll be moving a piece of furniture outdoors — one I can stand up and use.

————————

I don’t have a dedicated workbench or permanent shop.

That makes things difficult when I have pretty much any project.

I had picked up a discarded round coffee table years ago that I’d more recently attached my vise to, as featured in a prior post.

But since I knew I would have to turn the table back into a table after using the vise, I put anchors into the table so I could make the process easy and stable.

This proved to be reliable, and I had used this setup since May of this year, but the table was just too unstable, and the roundness and rockiness of table were making for a difficult surface for other projects.

As luck would have it, I found another abandoned table a couple weeks ago. It just screamed, “I’m a balcony workbench!”

At least to me.

Under the street lights, it looked like solid wood.

Issues with it were the flaking polyurethane, the horrid design, and the aphorisms.

Clearly someone had put in a lot of effort, but yikes.

Armed with my new Vacmaster 6 gallon, 3 HP shop vacuum, I was ready to do stuff with less concern for making everything dusty.

My dad commended me for having R2D2 help me out.

Also instead of the 2AH batteries I’d been using for my sander, I now have 5AH batteries!

The designs were going pretty quickly with even pressure on the random orbital sander with the 80+ grit cubitron sandpaper.

I started to realize that it wasn’t solid wood but veneer. But that’s not so bad.

I also didn’t need to get all the design off.

Protecting the surface was imperative. This is the time of year I see a lot of termites around, and I’m not interested in giving them free meals.

I let the table dry before moving on to the anchors!

Penciling in where the holes should be would make for a reduced chance of error.

And then for the anchors themselves.

It looks in this photo a little more crooked than it is.

OK the vise is done.

Moving on to the tabletop belt sander-disc sander combo.

I did the same penciling in.

Anchors installed and ready to rock.

The sander and vise on opposite ends of the table means that both can be up at the same time.

But there was one more thing I had to install.

My benchtop table saw!

Pencil first again and then drilling out the holes.

I had to use smaller diameter anchors because the inside allows only for smaller bolts.

And they fit into place.

I chose that space for maximal outfeed area.

I expect to have lots of projects with this setup.

And my new shop vacuum did an amazing job. Full cleanup took almost no effort.

Woodworking: Repairing the First Step-Up End Table (Part 1)

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As I put the newly completed end tables into service, I needed to find a new place for the first one I’d worked on. But over time, the table had tanned, and I saw the outline of a book that had been resting on it. Also I hadn’t reapplied teak oil like I should have, and there were some things I hadn’t addressed in my first go because I didn’t have a plane back then.

It was going to be a quick and easy project.

And it started off going as I’d planned.

Look at the coloration difference!

I was going to plane it to get rid of all the unevenness from the gluing I’d done way back when that I’d mistakenly thought I could sand off.

One key section of this unevenness was in the front with what should have been a consistent rounded-off edge. Keep in mind I do not have a router.

When I started the planing, the pronounced unevenness made me happy because it was something I knew I had to resolve.

I kept going and was thrilled at the quick progress.

As I continued across, the uneven spots were becoming more pronounced and then eliminated.

I was thrilled at how well the project was going.

Sure, there were some gaps to address, but those wouldn’t be anything that some homemade filler couldn’t repair, right? RIGHT?!

The crack going all the way through shouldn’t pose a threat.

Well, it was too wiggly for me to be comfortable with keeping it that way. The amount of play allowed me to snap the board apart the weak glue joint.

As I didn’t have a planer the last time I’d attempted gluing this up, I was limited by sanding off the old glue. But that made for a less-than-perfect gluing situation.

This time would be different!

I was happy to use my new coffee table workbench setup to mount my vise for the planing.

Once the faces matched one another, I glued up the boards.

Clamping a board in place would keep the project flat and reduce my new planing time. The wax paper protected the wood block from the glue.

Areas that needed wood filler got it, but this was all for superficial repair. The structural work had been done.

I planed it to remove any jagged anything and then sanded from 80+ to 180+ with the DeWalt random orbital sander.

And then it was finally on to the step that had initially seemed like it would happen so early on: application of teak oil.

I’ll wrap this one up next week and then start on something new.

Woodworking: Coffee Table Workbench Project

1 Reply

I don’t have a dedicated workbench or permanent shop.

That makes things difficult when I have pretty much any project.

I had picked up a discarded round coffee table years ago that I’d more recently attached my vise to, as featured in a prior post.

But since I knew I would have to turn the table back into a table after using the vise, I put anchors into the table so I could make the process easy and stable.

This proved to be reliable, and I had used this setup since May of this year, but the table was just too unstable, and the roundness and rockiness of table were making for a difficult surface for other projects.

As luck would have it, I found another abandoned table a couple weeks ago. It just screamed, “I’m a balcony workbench!”

At least to me.

Under the street lights, it looked like solid wood.

Issues with it were the flaking polyurethane, the horrid design, and the aphorisms.

Clearly someone had put in a lot of effort, but yikes.

Armed with my new Vacmaster 6 gallon, 3 HP shop vacuum, I was ready to do stuff with less concern for making everything dusty.

My dad commended me for having R2D2 help me out.

Also instead of the 2AH batteries I’d been using for my sander, I now have 5AH batteries!

The designs were going pretty quickly with even pressure on the random orbital sander with the 80+ grit cubitron sandpaper.

I started to realize that it wasn’t solid wood but veneer. But that’s not so bad.

I also didn’t need to get all the design off.

Protecting the surface was imperative. This is the time of year I see a lot of termites around, and I’m not interested in giving them free meals.

I let the table dry before moving on to the anchors!

Penciling in where the holes should be would make for a reduced chance of error.

And then for the anchors themselves.

It looks in this photo a little more crooked than it is.

OK the vise is done.

Moving on to the tabletop belt sander-disc sander combo.

I did the same penciling in.

Anchors installed and ready to rock.

The sander and vise on opposite ends of the table means that both can be up at the same time.

But there was one more thing I had to install.

My benchtop table saw!

Pencil first again and then drilling out the holes.

I had to use smaller diameter anchors because the inside allows only for smaller bolts.

And they fit into place.

I chose that space for maximal outfeed area.

I expect to have lots of projects with this setup.

And my new shop vacuum did an amazing job. Full cleanup took almost no effort.