The Coffee Table Project

Finally Finished

Holy Cow - the coffee table is FINALLY finished. 

When did I start on it? Mid March I think. That's when I started painting layers of poly-acrylic on the gas station sign I acquired. I bought the iron legs on E-bay months before that? 

Here it is and then I'll tell you how many steps it took -- a lot of them unnecessary, but hey, I got there! And now I can say I built this lovely, quirky piece of furniture!

The table began as a termite eaten sign that appeared at my place sometime early last year from I don't know where. At first I thought I wanted to hang it on the wall, but then I decided a coffee table would be a great use for it.

It sat out on the lanai until a little over a month ago when I began sanding the edges. Then I needed to seal it and make it more user friends (i.e. no splinters for my guests) I started with a wipe-on polyurethane but quickly discovered that wasn't going to be enough unless I wanted to wipe on about 40 coats. I did not want.

A little Internet research turned up poly-acrylic - a bit thicker coverage and more water proofing than the wipe-on poly. Off to Ace.

I "polyed" every few hours for a couple of days and sanded in between until I had probably 10 layers on top and sides and 5 on the underside.

 It was time to figure out how to attach the legs, which meant the table sat put together but unattached for a couple of weeks until I had time to get to it.

And then I told you about putting the screws all the way through the sign and then the first gluing attempt to put wood underneath on which to attach the legs. Well, that glue didn't hold. One piece of wood came off as I was attaching the legs with screws.

Back to Ace (I could make commercials for them at this point). I chose Liquid Nails - or the better version and possibly original of that product - an Ace employee confirmed my selection. I painted the thick goo on the wood two nights ago and let it set - underneath my heavy cast-iron skillets (I'm not a professional - I improvise).

The stuff

The pans again

This morning

Pretty proud of my little project. I hadn't built anything before. I'm sure there are 10 ways I could have done it better or more quickly - it's finished and I'm extremely happy with it. So - yay!

Now, back to this thing:

B and friend Karl each separately told me to chuck it or send it back. I'll keep you posted.