My Awesome LBGE Table Build Thread

scottn83

very nice work some good ideas. I was curious what type and brand of varnish were you going to use.  I saw a youtube on finishing outside furniture it was suggested to do a 50/50 mix varnish and thinner for the first coat to allow it to obsorb into the wood better.  Whats your thought on that

Chubby

Very nice workmanship.... that's going to be a fine addition!!

Sookie

That table is straight up sexy!!!   Keep building friend.  I'm really jelly right now!

Chubby

scottn83 said:

very nice work some good ideas. I was curious what type and brand of varnish were you going to use.  I saw a youtube on finishing outside furniture it was suggested to do a 50/50 mix varnish and thinner for the first coat to allow it to obsorb into the wood better.  Whats your thought on that

Though I didn't see the original recommendation usually a 50/50 coat is what's called a "sealer coat". The idea being that it raises the grain and seals it once open. Once lightly sanded or steel wooled... subsequent coats go on smoother and are not absorbed into the grain unevenly! The same type of procedure also works with lacquered finishes.

Jstroke

Are you going to spray or wipe on. You might get away with some cheap drop cloths hung from the ceiling. Looks excellent so far

nolaegghead

If you sand between coats, only the final coat needs to be dust free.  Make sure there are no air currents around you, dust before you paint, try not to stir up the air and you should be fine.  I've finished many pieces of furniture in my dusty shop with good results.

Toxarch

This is my first rodeo with most of the aspects of this build. I'm definitely no pro so give me pointers if you have them.

Never heard of the 50/50 technique. I did however pick up a wood sealer. I plan to put that on first and then varnish over it. Supposed to give it an even first coat and then I can go from there.

I was thinking of hanging either old bed sheets/drop clothes from the ceiling or maybe plastic sheets. Should keep it mostly clean. The varnish I am using is Man O' War Marine Spar Varnish. The guy at Rockler said it was the best stuff they had for outdoor UV protection. I will be brushing on the varnish. They (Rockler) highly recommended a foam brush for application but said a paint brush would be fine.

shadowrider

Toxarch, what did you use for stain?  Was it water based or oil based?  GF makes both.  I've not used GF water based stains but some others are known to come off a little bit when you brush a topcoat on.  GF finishes have an excellent reputation across the board so it may be a non-issue.  I would strongly recommend their 450 exterior topcoat or their Outdoor Oil on top of any of their stains.  It also has a mildewcide in it.

You could use a thinned down oil varnish as a sealer too as long as it's fully cured before you go on with your topcoat.  Whichever one you choose put at least 4 or 5 coats of topcoat on it (some go 7) for the UV protection.  I'm a member on several woodworking forums and Sikkens and Epiphane are the most recommended outdoor finishes with GF following very closely.  

It seems that all the scuttlebutt is that exterior spar varnishes from the big box stores will end up cracking and peeling in a year or so because they are urethane or polyurethane based.  They say to avoid all urethanes and polyurethanes like the plague for exterior use because the sun degrades them very fast.  I would use a GF urethane though as long as it's recommended by GF for outdoor use, I've had great luck with their Enduro-Var but it's strictly for indoor use.  I'm going to use GF Outdoor oil on mine and just relegate myself with adding a touch-up coat every couple of years.  With a true oil finish you have to do that, but they will never crack and peel on you so it's easy to touch it up for maintenance.

Toxarch

@shadowrider I am using a water based light brown stain from GF. It went on very easily. Probably should have used a pre-stain for some parts, but no major issues.

The top layer(s) is Man O' War Marine Spar Urethane. The guy at Rockler said it was the best outdoor stuff they had and the best for UV protection. It's a tung oil based urethane.  I have already started applying the urethane. Have done 3 coats on the lower table so far and 1 on the counter top so far. Planning at least 5 coats for the top and at least 4 coats for the sides. I might do more coats for the top, I'll decide when I get to 5 coats if I want to keep going. The 24 hour cure time between coats is a bit annoying so it's taking a while to finish. I'm ready to drop the egg in. But the sides are already looking really good. Did an oil based pre-stain on the top before the first coat. Hoping for a glass finish like many of the tables I've seen here on the forum. 

shadowrider

The tung oil part of that is good.  I like tung better than linseed because it's actually more water proof.  I've thought about doing mine in pure tung, but it would take a month or more to do with it.

To get that glass like finish go to the auto parts store and get a 3m sanding pad (soft foam for auto paint sanding) and some wet-r-dry sand paper in 800 or 1000 grit.  Sand each coat just to the point of removing the gloss before the next coat.  Don't worry you won't be removing it all.  When you get a few coats on it it will look about an inch deep.

Toxarch

Everything I have read said not to sand with more than about 360 grit or the next layer won't have a good surface to bond to and will later peel up. Most recommend a 220 grit between layers, which is what I have been using.

jls9595

wow, can't wait to see the finished product. way better than my shoddy work but hey I'm impatient and my table was the first thing I ever built. Gave me a new respect for carpenters that's for sure.

Toxarch

Yeah, I'll never look at a well varnished table the same again. Always loved the look of them, but now I know how many coats goes in to getting the look.

Not really much to share right now. It's a bunch of: sand, varnish, wait 24 hrs to cure, repeat. Here's a couple of pics if you want to see something.

This is the underside of the table. I think this is an earlier picture cause it's not very shiny yet, but it's inside the garage so it's hard to see any shine. I decided to varnish the underside to protect the wood from moisture and hopefully keep any wood ants from finding the table and starting a buffet. Treated wood would have helped, but treated is SOOOOO much heavier than the pine studs I went with. Anyway, did 3 coats with the table upside down. Will have casters in the corners and made room for casters in the center if I think I want them later.

Here's the top of the table, I think this was before I put on the pre-stain.

Here's the top after pre-stain and 1 coat of varnish. The color should stay like this from now on. It's actually a little darker than what you see in the picture. I really like the cutting board look of it.


Got the main part of the table flipped upright and time to start varnishing from the top now. This thing is varnished inside and out. Also doing the drawers in the background at the same time. One more week of varnish and I should be done.

shadowrider

Toxarch said:

Everything I have read said not to sand with more than about 360 grit or the next layer won't have a good surface to bond to and will later peel up. Most recommend a 220 grit between layers, which is what I have been using.

220 will work as long as you don't go too far and sand off the last coat you put on.  You are using a urethane finish with builds thickness.  Unlike a true old school pure oil finish which penetrates into the wood and doesn't build up on the surface.  Once your first coat went on the wood is sealed at that point due to the urethane.  Sanding with uber fine grits will still give the next coat something to hold onto and almost all modern varnish finishes will also "burn into" the coat below it.  I think what you read may have been in regards to not sanding the bare wood to smooth which is definitely possible.  For a water based stain you don't really want to go past 180 grit, for oil based stain you should stop at 150.  That's the theory anyway, I've went to 220 and even 360 on some woods.  But it is possible polish the wood closing off the pores to the finish, with stains it will cause the wood to not take in like you want.

That top is looking good!  For a 1st time you've done a fantastic job.

Toxarch

Still working on the table. Not a lot to show since it was a bunch of varnish, wait 24 hours, sand, repeat. Not much left before it is finished.

Used a clear silicone in between the boards to keep the interior mostly dry since the table will be outside. Also started the electrical inside the table.

Added a plug on the right side of the table.

Here's a shot of the high voltage electrical completed. Two switches in the front for switched plugs (brown) in the back left. A hot plug (white) for whatever behind that. Exterior plug on the right side. Back left is the switched plugs for the low voltage to come later. And the other box is just for wire distribution. I didn't want that many wires AND a plug in the same box. Hard to squeeze them all in and not sure code would allow it (heat). The black wire is a 10' cord to plug the table in.

Got the drawers mounted in the table and the false fronts attached. Need just a little work to trim them out but they are operational. Still looking for the right handles to put on them. Wanting something that looks like a towel rack, but is a solid piece.

shadowrider

Looking at your electrical gives me an idea.  I have a small Honda 1000i generator and no electric where mine is going to go (without running an extension cord which would look bad and is inconvenient).  Might have to build a vented compartment or slide out drawer in the back for that and wire it up similar to yours.  One could run a stereo system, TV, etc. in addition to lights and whatnot.  Hmm....

tamu2009

watchlisted. looking to build my outdoor kitchen this fall and love the looks of this. i hate my temp egg table it lives in now.

Toxarch

Fun with Chinese electronics... that aren't wired right.

I'm putting in colored LED lights on the table. Why? Why not? I had bought these for another project that I never got around to starting. So they are being reallocated to this project.
It's an IR controller and the box will be in the cabinet. So I need to extend the IR receivers to be on the outside of the table. The controllers look the same, but are 2 different circuit boards. No problem, just a little soldering and wiring.






This is supposed to be green. Clearly something is wrong.

So I did a little resoldering of the wires on the circuit board. Not terribly hard to do.

Thought I had both rewired properly, but two different sets of lights worked different on two different controllers. So it had to be their wires. And as you can see...

Here's the controller's circuit board label and my rewiring. Notice the colors are a bit different than what's labeled.

So now that all the Chinese wiring is fixed, I started cutting the correct lengths of light for the table and it will be installed soon.

Spring Chicken

Nice job.  Some good ideas too.  You should be proud.

Spring "It's All About The Details" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Toxarch

Waiting on a couple of parts for the lighting, but I got most of it done.

Made the wiring mostly water-proof. Used liquid tape on the solder joints and then shrink wrap over that to protect it.



And the under side of the table lit up for a test.


I actually had a bit of a problem when I was wiring up the lights. I used the leftover from one roll and then starting using a new roll when that ran out. The problem was that the 2 rolls were made differently. One roll had the green and blue swapped. So when I wired it up, half the lights were green, half were blue, and I was red with frustration. So I had to reverse the wiring in the middle to make it all light up the same color.

erniemcclain

Holy Crap!!!  This is crazy cool.

PASmoke

Craftsmanship like this is a talent I just don't have but I am very jealous of those who do. YOU clearly do! Well done! 

HostileHarry

Wow... droooooool

bob.bud

I know of at least one word that can be used to describe you... craftsman. Nice work! Now let's see some cooks.

Toxarch

Thanks for the compliments. Like I said, this is my first rodeo for most of this stuff. I just get an image of what I want it to look like in my head and go from there. Most of the time it ends up looking pretty nice. I'm the guy that would rather spend money on new tools to build something instead of paying someone else to do it.

Toxarch

Waiting for a part that doesn't come in until Thursday. The new LED controller uses different signals than the old controller. So it has to be replaced too. Have some pics I didn't share yet.

New handles for the drawers. These are actually towel racks which works out perfect for the look I want and because I can hang a towel on the big drawer.


Put this piece on the back side of the big drawer face. I figure I can add some hooks on this board and hang some utensils inside the drawer and out of the elements. It will have to be shorter utensils.

Mounted up the water-proof transformers.

The Egg shelf is put together. I went ahead and sealed the shelf so I don't have to worry about any potential rain getting into the drawer underneath. Used an automotive high temp gasket seal to attach the tiles to the metal supports underneath.


Wanted to protect the table top from direct radiant heat. There was an idea for a metal band and I suggested an air gap behind it. The metal band gets the direct radiant heat, protecting the wood finish, and natural convection cools the metal band. I think it should work. If nothing else, I think it looks really good with the metal band on there. Somehow I measured a little wrong so there's a small gap in the back. Shouldn't hurt it too much. I used 3/4" wide aluminum.
Pre-drilled and countersunk:


Here it is installed. I had planned to use an aluminum straw cut to the right size for the spacers but that turned out to be a lot more work than I thought. So I switched to washers for the spacers. Not the best look, but it works.


Also ordered a Rutland gasket from @RRPbefore I even fire up the egg. The stock felt gasket is known to fail from the heat. So I figured, why bother waiting for the felt gasket to fail? I'll go ahead and replace it now and then not have to worry about it again. RRP was great to deal with, answered all my questions, and shipped the gasket quickly.

RRP

BEAUTIFUL table! VERY impressive! Also an excellent application of the Rutland!

NPHuskerFL

Brilliant!

shadowrider

Toxarch said:

Test fitting all the side pieces. Figured out I measured wrong on part of it, but it won't be noticeable once completed.

Did you do a tongue & groove or half lap on all the pieces for the sides? (The unstained parts in these pics)  

I'm debating how I want to go with this part since I'm using rough cedar.  I could half lap them since I have a router table and a new dado blade.  Then I wouldn't have to buy a T&G bit set.

Botch

Love this thread, thanks for all the unique ideas and great pics!