[captainawesome]

It's late at night, and you're on your way up to bed. The lights are off and you are guiding yourself by way of cellphone light, when all of a sudden, it feels as though you've stepped on a bear trap!

If you have children with small toys that are scattered over the floor in every room of your house, you will understand the importance of this build.

I will do my best to keep this brief, however I have loads more photos and will be happy to answer any questions.



We're off... 3/4" birch ply for the sides and walnut for the edging.


My new (and much more effective) method of flush trimming edging.


Legs are 1x poplar glued and screwed, and will have a slight taper at the bottom.


Tapering:

 

[captainawesome]

I cut some plugs out of walnut to cover the screws in the legs.


Then trimmed them close to flush and finished with the ROS.


Mitered all the corners, and shot a couple of 23ga. pin nails top and bottom to hold it together during the glue up.


I attached the legs, and my little man came out to give it the initial test.

 

[captainawesome]

To strengthen the corners (and step out of my comfort zone) I decided to make a jig, and route slots for dovetail keys.


The tests went perfectly and after routing all my slots, I set up the router in my TS wing and ran some walnut through to cut all the keys from.


I have a lot more pictures of this process that I can share upon request.

After the glue dried, I planed the keys as close to flush as possible, and finished with the ROS.

 

[captainawesome]

A shot of the keys sanded flush.


To make sure EVERYONE knew who this table belonged to, I scrolled his name out of some walnut (shock, I know) and glued it to the front.


Here she is with 4 coats of gloss urethane that I applied with a rag after thinning it with mineral spirits.


I put two coats of Valspar "chalkboard" paint on the top, and wrote a message for him..... that he can't read since he's only 2.



I started this table on 2/1 and finished assembling it last night 2/9. For only 2 half days and every evening last week, I was shocked as to how quickly this thing went together!

Thanks for reading,

Sean

 

[Paarker]

Projects like that are the ones we work the hardest on. Well done!

 

[03svtsnakevert]

Holy cow!!!! That's awesome!! Man, I wanna be able to build like that...amazing job dad!

 

[Masterjer]

I love your dovetail splines. Beautiful table! Thanks for sharing a great build!

 

[mdntrdr]

Cool jig, Awesome table! :thumbsup:

 

[Smith Brother]

Very nice. I found one at a church rummage sale in perfect shape, our 2 Grand kids just love it, I'm sure Bryce is ENJOYING his toooooooo!

Dale in Indy

 

[johnnie52]

Very nice indeed. :thumbsup: (However, I'm betting you still end up stepping on toys, especially those mischievous Legos that suddenly appear in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom. :laughing

How are the legs attached?

 

[Kenbo]

That's just awesome. Very nicely done.

 

[Sprung]

Awesome table!

I'll likely be building a similar table for my son later this year, and you've given me some great ideas with yours!

 

[GeorgeC]

The table looks great. What did it have to do with stepping on something in the dark?

George

 

[preacherman]

That is awesome! IF I had room for that my little girl would be getting one similar. Love the chalk board paint!:thumbsup:

 

[frankp]

We have one simple rule (of many) in our house. Before bed, the kids put all their toys away. Nothing stays on the floor unless it's up against a wall out of normal traffic areas. I've never stepped on a toy in 18 years of having kids.

That said, you have done a very nice job and built a sweet table that your son will love and also help with the bear trap issue.

 

[captainawesome]

Very nice indeed. :thumbsup: (However, I'm betting you still end up stepping on toys, especially those mischievous Legos that suddenly appear in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom. :laughing

How are the legs attached?

Johnnie, the legs are attached with three screws from the inside of both leg parts (8 total if that makes sense). Each piece is about 3 7/8" wide, and I was a little concerned about wood movement which is why I didn't glue them in place as well. I think I need to go back and slot the outside screw holes to allow it to move.

What are your thoughts?

The table looks great. What did it have to do with stepping on something in the dark?

George

George, I don't think a day has gone by since he got all of the train stuff for Christmas that I haven't stepped on a train or part of a track on my way up to bed at night. I'm sure next week he'll be leaving some other toy all over the floor for me to kick in the dark.

 

[captainawesome]

Thank you gentlemen for all of your kind words. I'm sure there is something in this project that I picked up from one of y'alls threads, so thank you for that as well.

I brought the table in last night and he LOVED it!

 

[johnnie52]

Johnnie, the legs are attached with three screws from the inside of both leg parts (8 total if that makes sense). Each piece is about 3 7/8" wide, and I was a little concerned about wood movement which is why I didn't glue them in place as well. I think I need to go back and slot the outside screw holes to allow it to move.

What are your thoughts?

8 leg parts with 3 screws each equals 24 screws. I think you have got it covered pretty well. Unless he takes to climbing all over it, I would not worry too much about movement or the legs coming loose. I might just drill it and glue in 2 contrasting dowels between the screws on each leg part, but that would only be for looks at this point. IMO its plenty strong the way it is.

 

[MagGeorge]

Fantastic table! Sturdy design, like those awesome joints and legs. Attractive wood combo including the walnut plugs. Great idea on the chalkboard top. I can see that he loves it and by the time he's big enough, he'll never forget that daddy made it specially for him.

 

[ssgtjoenunez]

What an awesome build! I have three sons - 6, 4 and 2 and I can totally appreciate wanting to build something nice that will last for them. My oldest wants a desk though I'm too much of a novice for that at present. I am working up to it though!

Great job!