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Have you been planning to build a slick wood dining table? Maybe one with metal legs or metal base and a custom wooden top?
Come along for the ride and I’ll show you how to turn some metal pieces and rough lumber into a thing of beauty!
Here is what you’ll need for the project:
Tools Used
- Kreg Track Saw & 62” Rail
- JET 13” Planer
- JET 8” Jointer
- Biscuit joiner
- Metal Cutoff Saw
- Lincoln 210MP Welder
- Miter Saw Stand
- Flip Top Tool Stand
Materials/Supplies
- The hardwood of your choice
- 1×3 rectangular tube steel
- 1/4″ steel plate
- Total Boat Epoxy
- Threaded inserts
- Primer
- Flat black paint
- Rubio Pure Finish
How to Build a Wood Dining Table
1. Pick Lumber and Start Initial Milling
Pick your favorite Lumber to start initial milling. No matter how straight the lumber is, you will still need to deal with rough lumber, so mill the boards to get a flat face and one straight edge. You can look for lumber yards that sell both rough and milled lumber.
2. Finish Milling of Lumber
Determine how wide you want them to be based on the overall width you want for the tabletop, in this case of mine was 40 inches.
Next, lay out all of the boards you’ll be using for the tabletop and clamp them together. This shows you where you have spots with gaps between the boards. Then mark those spots with a pencil, fold the boards together like a book, and run them through the jointer together. This will eliminate any gaps caused by a slightly out-of-square setup on your jointer.
Go through and fold up each set of mating boards that have gaps and run them through the jointer until everything fits tightly. After that, lay the wood back down just how the top would be attached and put a big V across all the boards as a reference mark to keep them in order. Next, go through and make marks across the joints about 20 inches apart for biscuits that I’ll use for alignment during the glue-up.
Cut slots in all the boards for the biscuits and then do one final dry fit to make sure everything is good before glue-up. The last thing you want here is to run into an issue when you’re 3 minutes deep into assembly with glue drying while you panic…believe me, I’ve been there.
3. Glue Up Top and Fill In Holes
With all the prep work and dry fittings done, the glue-up should go smoothly since you know how all the boards fit together. Glue one board at a time putting the biscuits in for registration and lining the boards up with the marks you made earlier.
Use a mallet to level out a few spots that had crept up and then put a few more clamps on the top. After 45 minutes, come back and scrap the partially dried glue beads off the top. It makes final flattening a bit easier, plus it’s super satisfying.
Wait until the next day to clear out any of the knotholes in the tabletop and give it a rough sanding to 80 grit in a few spots. Mark all the spots that needed filling with blue tape then mix up some epoxy.
To fill the holes I used Total Boat epoxy and instead of leaving it clear, I add some mix of black tint. I think the black accents the knots without being too gaudy.
- You should read: How Do You Attach Metal To Granite?
4. Choose your favorite Metal Legs
Are you looking for some metal legs ideas for your dining table? At Flowyline, we manufacture state-of-the-art table legs that can be customized. We specialize in creating handmade table legs, including wooden table legs, dining table legs, hairpin legs, metal table legs, and more.
Some ideas of metal legs that could light up your living space:
Snello Metal Legs - set of 4
Elegance and well-made, reasonable price and with high quality. If you like the classic 4 legs, this design shall be your best choice for the dining table
Uta Metal Legs - set of 2
These metal table legs would add a timeless look to your expensive centerpiece and are easy to attach to your dining table.
Oria Metal Legs - set of 2
Another set of 2 legs design - Oria Metal Legs. With its unique, one-of-its-kind design, these metal table legs would brighten up your living space as they are beautifully crafted, thoughtfully designed, well-made, and with a flawless finish
Namu Single Base for Large Dining table
Level up your dining room with this Namu Pedestal Base. Made with high-grade industrial steel and powder-coated finish, guarantee sturdiness and stability with a maximum weight capacity of ~1000 lbs. The instruction manual provided with the package is very simple to follow and it takes only 20-30 minutes to assemble to your dining table. All in all, this product is highly recommended at such an affordable price.
Xerxes Single Base for Large Dining Table
Next up we have a design from one of the best selling designs of Flowyline Design - The Xerxes base. If you are looking for the best pedestal base that go well with your wood dining table, in Flowyline Design at a can’t-be-more-affordable price range, the Xerxes base should be on natural call.
5. Finish and Mount Table Top
Measure in 3” from each side, set the track saw square at 90 degrees to the long edge, and cut the table to size.
Next, drill mounting holes in the top of the legs at the ends and the intersection of the T. Then, use a step bit and drill them a bit oversized to allow for wood movement.
Then, hoof the metal legs up on top of the table (which was bottom side up) to mark through each hole for the inserts.
You can also find the post: How to Attach Metal Legs To A Wood Table? for more detail.
