Hey guys, I am Sarah. Every week I comb through hundreds of DIY videos preparing projects for our weekly Maker show, Maker Break. Along the way, I find some good projects… and some GREAT ones, And right now, I’m going to share them with you! This is Sarah’s Top 5 DIY Dining Room Tables
#5 is Are Baloni
Are’s sister was about to get married so he decided to brother of the year himself and build her and her new husband a round dining room table as a wedding gift. He began by cutting the european oak rough boards to length, lined them up and glued them together. Once the glue was dry he hand planed down the squeeze out and used his router and jig to cut out the circle table top. Next he focused on the base of the table. I have to note, in addition to the beautiful woodworking he does, his video production is just soothing to watch. Back to the build. Once he was happy with the base he added a little “with love” note and attached the table top. The extra little details are a beautiful touch as well!
#4 is Mr.Build It
Alex somehow makes plywood and MDF boards look luxurious….but how? Well he shows you! He used MDF as the base of his table top, then cut down a plywood sheet into smaller shiplap like pieces that will make up the herringbone design. Then glue and brad nails to hold the boards in place. He cut off the excess ends and used those to finish the pattern. Then he used smaller strips of plywood, cutting them at a 45 degree angle to meet up on the corners all crispy like! Now that the table top was pretty much done he started the metalwork needed to build the base. He used 2×2 steel tubing and shared how to easily weld them together. Then he spray painted the base black. After it dried he attached the top and then ironed on the edge banding, sanded the table top, and applied finish. So pretty!
#3 is BYOT
Brent recently welcomed his first little one into the world! Congrats to you and your family! started off his project at the lumber yard and found himself some gorgeous Black American Walnut that is milled on three of the four sides. Once he got the boards home and cut down to size he glued them up and added all of the clamps. We have been over this, you can never have enough clamps. Then he repeated the process for the second half of the table top, and glued both pieces together. After the glue tried he cut the ends flush, and started hand planing the excess glue and imperfections away. Next he used his router to round off the edges of the table. After many many sessions of sanding, buffing, staining, more buffing, sanding and mineral spiriting and sanding yet again this was ready to add to the base.
#2 is Get Hands Dirty
Christiana decided an extendable dining table would be perfect for her little apartment. Using hard maple boards she got busy milling down the wood for the table top. After she was happy with which boards would face up, she started gluing everything together. Why is this so satisfying? While that was drying she used her band saw to carefully cut another maple board in half to make the extension leafs for the table top. Christiana goes into great detail with every step of the process and does a fantastic job explaining why she does what she does. Once the table tops were done she started on the legs and support system for when the table is extended. She installed the hardware to the bottom of the table and applied finish. This is so pretty!
#1 is Paul’s Project
Paul sorted through his stash of Walnut boards until he found some that would work for his dining room table project. He started ripping down the boards on his table saw, ran them across his jointer, and then planed them all down until they were smooth and crispy! Next he figured out how he wanted the table top to look and used a biscuit joiner and biscuits to glue up the table top. When the glue dried he cut off the ends then used a datto bit in his router to prepare the ends for the bread board. So he definitely ran into a few issues throughout this project but overcame every one of them and explains what happened to hopefully spare you from some of these challenges. I appreciate that! Onto the legs! He added so much detail to this build just in the legs alone. Using maple between the two pieces of walnut for the legs is what caught my eye in the first place, and it turned out absolutely stunning. Paul, this is gorgeous!
That’s it! I hope you liked my list, but if you find a version of this project you think should have made the list add it to the comments below! Alright, do me a favor and like this video and if you are not already subscribed to Belts and Boxes please do that now, and hit the bell so you don’t miss any of our shows that come out during the week! You can catch me every Friday at 5pm for the Power Tool Week In Review with Rob, and every Saturday at 6pm for the next episode of Maker Break! See you then!
