I know that I already posted this picture in a different post, but I wanted to mention the background a little bit. For the moment, ignore the two copper bolts and look at the table-top that the bolts are sitting atop. My father and I used to make a pretty good woodworking team and we put this table together as a small kitchen table that I could use for my first house that I rented when I first started teaching (still single).
The table top consists of 2x4's which are ripped lengthwise to make the edges perfectly straight and right. The tops are then ripped for the same purpose. The were assembled together and covered with nice, hard varnish that let as much of the original color of the wood through as possible. Personally, I like the golden look of these pine boards--it reminds me of knotty pine which is an aesthetic that I like.
I envy folks that do woodworking. With what I know nowadays, I would make all my own furniture.
I have a dresser that we bought that were made of 2 by 4, 2 x 6 then stained and varnished.
Easy projects would be bunk beds. The dresser came with bunk beds that we no longer have.
End tables would be another easy project.
Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Something I have been seeing on the home improvement TV shows is that folks are making butcher block countertops by ripping up the 2 x 4 into 1 x 1, gluing them together for great looking countertops.
We have the perfect table saw to do this if I needed countertops.
My countertops are granite looking laminate. Outdated though I like them.
Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner
This table top is constructed much like you just described the butcher block countertops.
The backstory behind this table began when I was finishing my second degree at Illinois State. I was living with my parents to save money (awkward as I had already lived independently but it worked and was practical). One of those summers, my wife, after her first year of med school did an externship in Bloomington because my sister lived there. My sister and wife were college roommates and very close friends. At this point, my family practically adopted my wife, but to be clear, at this point, my wife and I had absolutely no interest in each other whatsoever, despite numerous, repeated attempts by my sister to pair us together.
At any rate, my wife lived in a little house next to the hospital and when my family picked her up for some event, my father saw her table and was fascinated by the basic construction. This was the point when my father and I were at our peak of building woodworking projects. Specifically, my father memorized the construction of how the center stand connected to the table top. I found it interesting too, and my wife was absolutely perplexed.
After numerous woodworking projects and moving off to Carbondale to teach, I needed a small kitchen table to replace the card table that I started with. I always liked the grain of pine in as natural color as a varnish would allow. So I proposed my idea, and my father and I cut the lumber to be straight, right and true. Later, my father had to belt sand some points on the top to level the surface. To be clear, the surface is not absolutely perfectly level—there are some gentle dips and bumps, but I think the imperfections add to the character. We then added varnish that would soak and harden into a nice glossy surface.
Finally, as I was still in a phase of life where I was moving around a lot, I built the table to disassemble. The top is bolted to the center stand but in a way that is not easily visible. This allows the table to be laid flat.
Today the table is a nice work table, and I always enjoy the golden look that brings out a three dimensional grain from the wood,
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