Building a Butcher Block Table out of Scrap Wood

like in a good table video this one starts with a lamp I built a few of these years ago and received an unexpected piece of mail from a guy who made his own redwood tables and lamps back in the 70s he told me he still had bread wood leftover if I wanted it when I got there to my surprise it was all sitting outside much of it was six inches deep in the mud it cleaned up nice enough though and for the next five years I tried to sell it first as larger blocks and then as smaller pieces ready-made for a butcher block table with no takers even $25 for everything it wouldn't sell so I gave up on that and made this table instead it's a butcher block table for my 3d printer with 3d printed legs here's how I made it all the blocks of various sizes were combined into a table top two inches thick 27 inches wide and 56 inches long the rest of this video will cover exactly how all these bits and pieces went together half-inch steel tubes form the vertical sections of the legs and they are braced and connected with solid plastic parts in the second video of this series I cover how they were printed tested and installed now let's make this thing I started by laying out all the pieces I created sets of blocks that were all about the same thickness the sets alternated from thick to thin with the wide variety of sizes it took some time to arrange them in a way where the ends didn't line up like this the grain of the thick blocks is like lumber and the thin blocks are more similar to burl wood while trying to stagger these nicely I spent time creating a varied mixture of colors and textures as well not to forget I wanted the table to be as large as possible with the available pieces so each row had to be roughly the same length all the pieces were slightly irregular on all sides some were significantly varied in thickness from piece to piece and also from one end of the block to the other I don't have a jointer so I came up with a process that would work for my planer with as little waste as possible the plan was to start by gluing the sets together end to end this would assure that there would be no gaps in between the blocks no matter how angled they might be each block got a healthy amount of glue and was pressed together firmly using a bar clamp the clamping pressure caused the rows to bow upward slightly to prevent this each end was weighed down with a few pounds of Steel this process took a few days because I only had two clamps long enough for the task because of all the odd angles each row deviated slightly to one side or the other this was especially noticeable on the thin set some pieces were also quite warped it created a unique challenge after a few hours dry time the clamp was removed and the newly made board was flipped upwards so that the plastic wrap side had a chance to dry completely once all the rows were glued it was easy to see that they did not fit together all that well these significant variations in the thickness of the blocks were going to cause issues for the planer some pieces were worse than others the goal in terming these on the bandsaw wasn't to make the board's completely flat but to make the service free of large steps in thickness the most flat untwisted and unbowed side was selected placed facedown and run through the planer you can see a little snipe here this is one of the reasons why I wanted to glue up the rows before planing I tried various approaches to eliminate this but it seems to be easier just to trim off the end of the board after cleaning it if I plane to each short board one at a time this would be a more severe issue it's also impossible and/or dangerous to plane board shorter than 15 inches in length each board was fed through the planer until each side was blemish free and roughly the same thickness due to variations in the grain there was some chip out in places after this process the table was noticeably thinner my planer can accommodate material up to 13 inches wide so I divided the boards into three sets for the next glue up I experimented with some wax paper to protect the table but it did end up allowing some moisture to penetrate into the surface below I applied a healthy amount of glue so that there was complete coverage between all the pieces because this would go through the planer again I could afford to be sloppy the group of boards was lightly clamped and using a plastic mallet I tamp down the ones that were sticking up the clamps were fully tightened and a few more clamps were added any squeeze-out was wiped off after 24 hours this is what it looked like planers don't remove all the twist or bowing in the wood they only make things a regular thickness now that all the pieces are merged together the lack of flatness is quite significant and varied from board to board I smoothed out the blobs of glue that formed on the underside then it was time for a couple of trips through the planer [Music] things are looking smooth and gap-free most importantly it's also nice and flat now because the individual boards in section two are still a bit flexible I could use section one as a template during the glue up I could also use my set of small clamps to help align the new set with the old with special attention to keeping glue off the completed section I started gluing things up on this round I tried a thinner layer of glue on both sides of each board because of how the workpiece was suspended lots of drips formed on the bottom side after trying various approaches to removing them I found a hand plane took off the large strips fairly well and some sanding took care of the rest I wanted to knock these down so that they were less likely to get stuck on something while going through the planer this section was processed to the exact same thickness as the first the gap between the two was not perfect in the end but it was close enough to be overcome by the clamps and one and two were then glued together with the topside I was sure to clean off as much glue as possible the table will no longer fit in the plane error so I will have to sand off any exposed glue afterwards and the smallest amount of sanding is always preferable once the glue dried I repeated the steps from section 2 on section 3 I tried a little something different with the drip tray this time this prevented the glue from dripping on the floor but I should have put some painters tape on the top side of the support boards breaking them off was the only way to remove them and there was some chip out thankfully any remaining blemishes after planing would be hidden on the underside of the table section three got scraped off sanded and planed like those before it with the last glue up the table was now in one piece I used some weights to press the two sections into better alignment until the clamps were in place after its set for 24 hours I propped it up so that the bottom side got a chance to dry completely the ends were then trimmed off with a circular saw the blade was only deep enough to cut about halfway so after removing the lion's share with the first two cuts I slowly trimmed the edge closer and closer until the surface was mostly flat then there was sanding lots of sanding first with the orbital using 80 grit and then 180 grit then hand sanding on the worst of the glue covered areas if I were to do this again I would definitely prop up the workpiece and let the glue drip out the bottom rather than allowing it to spread along the surface like this removing it took quite some time the top side was not nearly as built up as the bottom but the glue had still penetrated into the surface rather than focus on those areas i sanded the whole table evenly to try to maintain surface flatness I only used 180 grits on the top the sides were then cleaned up and the edges were a slightly chamfered with the orbital then by hand the edges were worked to a 1/8 inch radius in a few places there was some nearly petrified SAP that I scooped out you think some sawdust I made a plug for the hole this also worked for areas with chip out these patches did end up darker than the surrounding wood after finishing I then gave it a once-over with 220 grit by hand thoroughly cleaned it and began to apply part 1 of the finish this is easily my favorite part of the process few varieties of wood react as intensely to a finish as redwood does I've done a surface treatment like this before where I put a base coat of teak or Danish oil down first and then a top coat over that for a hard glossy shine the bright red and amber tones of the Redwood are really striking and I'm hoping that this two-part finish will help prevent the wood from getting significantly darker over the next 10 or 20 years whether this works or not time will tell in the short term this makes the project take forever the wood may be old and very dry but I still let the three coats of teak oil soak in for three months if I didn't the top coat may have not adhered properly or in the worst-case scenario it would have remained sticky indefinitely the only remedy for that is to scrape it off and start over this is what it looked like before going into storage and this is what it looked like after 90 days the color has faded quite a bit but it looks nice and rustic if that's what you're looking for the top coat I'm using his general finish's armour seal the first application went on thick so it had a chance to soak in despite the earlier application of oil there were still quite a few parts that seem to be bottomless pits taking up as much urethane as I could give it drive for 72 hours then sanded it down with 220 grit and 320 grit paper you can see how much the oil has raised the grain of the wood this is not always desirable but in this case I think he gives the table a nice texture after each round of sanding the table was wiped down with mineral spirits before the next coat using a 320 grit sanding sponge I once again roughed up the surface on the sides I paid special attention to knots and through the coating at the edges this would be the third of four coats each coat would be applied thinner and thinner as the coast progressed one question I had was what would the table look like if it only received the top coat no oil involved to find out I used one of the trimmings as a test it got all four coats that the table did got just as many applications of arm-r-seal the bottom side served as a test base for everything I did to the top even with on average three days of drying time in between coats the finish was a bit softer than I expected it to be another thing worth noting was that the mineral spirits needed ample time to evaporate even though the table looked dry tiny beads of salvan bubbled up into the finish on one of the coats I set up a fan to make sure it dried out completely prior to applying any further finishes to remove bubbles in the coating I hit it with a few puffs of compressed air I made sure there was no water trapped in the system before doing this while alternating between sides drips would form on the bottom edge I carefully wiped these away with a paper towel doing several passes before the finish got sticky with all the parts key word here's the color test the colors on the oil side are a bit more mellow and amber in tone I think it's my preference but the differences are so slight that it's difficult to argue in favor of drawing out the project three whole months to achieve this minimal color difference alone the legs were prepared in part 2 of this series be sure to watch that video next while drilling into the table it was important to use a depth stop there was only half an inch between the ideal depths of the hole and the top side of the table if I accidentally drilled through the other side at this stage I might need to be committed each leg had nine screw points to help spread the load I was also careful not to strip out the wood when screwing into it the Redwood is a bit soft with some legs to stand on the table was now complete despite not having a jointer or a drum sander to smooth the whole thing out it was still quite flat about 1/32 of an inch deviation along the length of the table and less than 1/16 along the width if I were to set something round on here it's not going to roll away now for some close-ups this is not glass smooth but the texture is enjoyable I've got to say that I love the wild variations in color grain and figure of all the different blocks there are a few blemishes here and there but the contrasting colors help to obscure them I hope you enjoyed part 1 of the 3d printed 3d printer table check out part 2 of this series on making the legs and remember to like and subscribe for more videos like this

Channel: The 3D Handyman

Views: 128,617

Keywords: Redwood, butcher block, table, Slab, Jointer, Planer, 3d printed, 3d printer, Custom, Live edge, Hardwood, Teak oil, Urethane, Design, Test, Build, How to, DIY, Professional, Make, Maker, Mahogany, Rosewood, Walnut, Detailed, Render, Animation, Vintage, Reclaimed, Barn wood, Wood, Scrap, reclaimed, Cuttings, Table top, Coffee table, End table, Furniture, Woodworker, Woodworking

Id: IIvMcjH3ICg

Length: 13min 19sec (799 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 07 2020