In case you missed the memo, Kyle is doing a two part post on his DIY pipe and wood coffee table. You can check out part one here!
Now you have everything (except maybe the casters, but those are just about the last step anyway). Time to get your Bob the Builder on! First step, stain like you have never stained before. Also, ventilate, ventilate, ventilate! I used a little 3” chip brush I grabbed at Home Depot for $1.50. I bought it on impulse and ended up loving it for this staining process. The bristles are so short that it doesn’t drink up all your stain and it is so cheap you just toss it afterwards instead of trying to clean it with mineral spirits. Staining took a long time, some boards required at least 6 coats of stain before they got to the color I was looking for. Others required less. I didn’t use a pre-treatment of any kind, but next staining project I am going to just to see if it cuts down on the thirst of the wood. Stain until you get the shade you are looking for. Now go relax, grab a beer, or just start/finish another project that you have going on. You can also screw the pipes (nipples, hehe) into the flanges while you wait. And try to remove the stickers.
Once the wood is dry and you are happy with the finish, get your drill ready. Make sure you know which sides you want facing up, each piece can only have one presentation side. I spent a fair amount of time flipping them over and mixing up the order. I recommend laying out your boards in two separate groups and making sure both sets look awesome. Once you have the groups and sides selected, flip the boards over, being very careful to keep the order correct. The middle board will be flipped over in place and the outside boards will flip and switch sides. Now place your brackets in your chosen locations and screw ‘em in. Make sure the boards stay tightly pressed together when you do this, you don’t want weird gaps between them. If you have clamps big enough, you could also throw a bit of wood glue between the boards and laminate them together before adding the brackets.
So now you have your two coffee table layers. Figure out how far in from the corners you want your pipe legs to be and screw them in to the bottom of the top layer (same side as the brackets). Got them all attached? Good. Now, flip the top over and place the bottom flanges on the top of the bottom layer (the side without the brackets). Get the two layers lined up and, you guessed it, screw the flanges in. All set? You’re screwed! Congratulations.
The final step is to attach the casters to the bottom of your coffee table. I located mine closer to the corners than the flanges and one in an approximation of the middle of the table. You should now have a nice, heavy, solid table that rolls smoothly, even on carpet! The final step is to seal your table however you choose. We have some Minwax Wipe-On Poly that I still need to apply. Now, enjoy your new coffee table!
Well, that’s all she (ahem, he) wrote folks! Don’t worry though, I’m sure Kyle will be willing to write up another tutorial once he builds our new dining table…
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