Building a Table

After getting our most recent haul of barn wood I decided the first thing I wanted to make was a table.

A large dining room table is something that requires much thought and dedication. After all, you’re going to spend a lot of time intimately using a dining room table; and if you’re even remotely traditional, like our family of 6, you actually will use it for family meal times.

The perfect size for our entryway.

I wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment so I decided I wanted to build a smaller table that could be beautiful and functional and fit in a smaller space. A console table fit the bill perfectly. In case you’re wondering, a console table is either a table that is affixed to a wall on one side with two front legs supporting the other side or, more commonly, a table that is designed to fit against a wall.

This Rustic Barn Wood Console Table is for sale on our Etsy Shop. Contact us to arrange for local pickup or delivery and get a reduced price.

After measuring some of the wood from our latest haul, I landed on a size: 2 boards wide by 3 feet long, or more precisely: 11 1/4″ x 36″.

I knew I wanted sturdy but attractive legs, so that called for tapering them. I decided to take the advice of someone I’ve followed for years on YouTube – Matthias Wandel and use my jointer to do the taper.

I can’t get enough of this rough sawn look.

I went back and forth between dowelling and mortise and tenoning the legs to the apron but in the end, given the small dimensions of the table and the relatively light use it will get, I decided on dowels.

The table top is attached to the base using z-clips so it won’t twist and split with seasonal changes, and it has 3 to 4 coats of satin finish. No stain on this one – the wood was just wanting to stand on its own 4 feet.

This table is for sale on our Etsy Store.