I had this 2' x 2' mobile table that was looking pretty bad. The MDF top had been wet a few time in the past so I've been pondering replacing the top with a piece of plywood.

 

So out to the shop to find a piece of 3/4 plywood that was 24" x 24" and I pondered even putting edge banding on it to clean it up and maybe have a radius on the top edges. Well my plywood rack was pretty slim and none fit the bill so I looked around the shop and decided I'd edge glue some random strips of red oak and make a top that way. After flattening enough boards I cut them to 15/16" wide strips and ran them through the drum sander to get a good glue surface. I glued up 4 boards ~6" wide  or so.

 

Because the boards were various widths when I flipped them over to glue it was a humpy top so not so easy to glue.

 

I put them in another pair of clamps with the glue surface down.

 

Then transferred the boards to the previous clamps and kept them a bit proud of the jaws.

 

Now when I remove the top clamps I'm ready to roll on some glue.

 

Easy to spread the glue with a roller now.

 

Drop and flip and clamp up and do something else for the rest of the day.

 

I figured I'd clean up the table a bit so I disassembled the table.

 

After looking at the parts and seeing some rust I decided to blast them clean and powder coat the legs and paint the shelves. I was concerned the thin metal of the shelves might warp in the powder coat oven.

 

Blasted clean and flashed off in the powder coat oven. Ready for powder.

 

Powder coated

 

Painted

 

Finally got the top assembled

 

A few coats of Tried & True Varnish Oil.

 

Buffed with 0000 steel wool.

 

The finished table

 

JT

sexy

What DAB said!

So are you going to put the MDF back on top to prevent marring the surface? I suppose you could hold off until after you serve the Easter ham meal.

As a person who doesn't care much for red oak, I have to say that's some of the nicest looking RO I've ever seen. Wow!

When a couple of red oak logs "fall" into your collection you make a lot of red oak stuff. Giant red oak was blown over in a storm at my buddies house just missing the house by 20'.

 

Sawed up into rough boards to dry July 2020.

 

JT

6 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

So are you going to put the MDF back on top to prevent marring the surface? I suppose you could hold off until after you serve the Easter ham meal.

 

It's a work bench... it's going to get dinged up and I accept that.

 

JT

Pretty doggone nice for a simple "work table" there JT

All add a "Nicely done!" to the stack.   I've come to like red or white oak done like you did or ripped and flipped before gluing up.   Not a fan for the face grain view of wide boards though. 

The only critique I'll throw in is the edge trim on the end grain. Oak wants to swell and shrink across the grain with seasonal humidity changes. A good finish and stable environment can minimize, but as a shop bench I doubt the humidity is stable.   Post again if it ever splits or buckles. I speak from personal experience. 

 

4D

1 hour ago, 4DThinker said:

The only critique I'll throw in is the edge trim on the end grain. Oak wants to swell and shrink across the grain with seasonal humidity changes. A good finish and stable environment can minimize, but as a shop bench I doubt the humidity is stable.   Post again if it ever splits or buckles. I speak from personal experience. 

 

Thanks for the heads up on end grain moving.

 

I keep my shops closed up and keep the humidity at 50% or a bit lower year round.

 

JT

21 hours ago, jthornton said:

I keep my shops closed up and keep the humidity at 50% or a bit lower year round.

 

JT

Used to live about 200 miles NE of you. Used to camp, fish and tube the Black in the '70s.  Quite familiar with your summer humidity levels. 92° and 92% humidity.  Do you us dehumidifiers in the shops? 

Where we are now, the loggers claim that a felled Ponderosa is dry before it hits the ground. Ya know, I think our local HDs must get their pine/fir from somewhere else. 

 

I’m with you on the dryness here in the desert Gene. I learned the hard way right after moving here to the desert to let wood sit a while before building anything out of it. All the hardwood here comes from one source and their yard is over on the coast. The shrinkage is pretty dramatic once it gets to the desert level of moisture. 
Paul

11 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

Used to live about 200 miles NE of you. Used to camp, fish and tube the Black in the '70s.  Quite familiar with your summer humidity levels. 92° and 92% humidity.  Do you us dehumidifiers in the shops? 

Where we are now, the loggers claim that a felled Ponderosa is dry before it hits the ground. Ya know, I think our local HDs must get their pine/fir from somewhere else. 

Yes, in the summer I run dehumidifiers. In the winter wood heat keeps me dry.

 

The Black, Current and St. Francis drain Swamp East Missouri along with the Little River Drainage District canals made in the early 1900's to drain the cypress swamp. Only took them two tries and 20 years to complete.

 

JT

 

On 4/13/2022 at 6:43 AM, jthornton said:

When a couple of red oak logs "fall" into your collection you make a lot of red oak stuff. Giant red oak was blown over in a storm at my buddies house just missing the house by 20'.

 

Sawed up into rough boards to dry July 2020.

 

JT

 

 

Yes sir,..you gotta work with what you got...nice work.