Miles Radakovitz: Reading Table

So for all of us involved with this class there has been a lot of twists and turns taking us from our initial plans to our final results. I was thankfully fortunate enough to not have to completely shift my plans as I had the majority of the tools necessary to complete this project on hand. In face, my original design process was almost exactly the same as my for reals design process and is pictured below.

The change can be seen indicated by the fancy red lighting bolt indicated with life happens. Ultimately I was forced to temporarily go back to Illinois to assist a family member before I was able to add the final aspect of my light source to my design

I began by with a piece of live edge elm wood I got from a sawmill in town.

I then cut the wood to the proper size by using a hand held circular saw. The wood was thicker than the saw blade so I had to do a pass on each side and then clean up the cut with sandpaper. After cutting I then sanded the surface and edges until smooth. Before staining I used a small piece that I had cut off for a tester of my stain.
I decided I wanted it darker so I did two coats which worked fine. I then stained the entire piece.

After this I covered the wood in a layer of polyurethane and let it dry in my shed for a few days. This made the surface shiny and I used steel wool to buff it to a satin finish.

Finally I got hairpin legs off of amazon and attached them to finish the table part of the project.

Moving forward I was intending on creating a light source attached to the table according to the following graphic. 

I had ordered the parts before I had to depart and they are currently at my house waiting for me to return and finish the project. I am really excited for this aspect as I think it will really add to the aesthetic aspects of this project as well as adding a key level of additional functionality.

All In all I am very happy with my table and will be even more so when I am finally able to finish this project. If, and most likely when, I do something like this again I would love to actually do some more woodworking. Specifically, I would love to design and carve legs that I would use joinery to incorporate into the table. This table, however, will follow me for as long as it will stand.

 

Final Presentation

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1 Comment. Leave new

  • Emily Jordan
    May 2, 2020 8:34 pm

    This is such a cool project! Do you have any previous wood working experience? Lathe or carving?

    Reply

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