Finally...plain vanilla table for my Medium is done

Abter · July 2016

At long last my table is finished

I realize looking at the fine furniture and fantastic outdoor kitchens that get proudly (and deservedly !!) posted here on the Egg Table Forum, mine is a humble table. But it is mine. And I built (most of) it myself

. For an over educated office dwelling geek it is amazing that (a) it works well (b) I actually got it done and (c) I still have 10 fingers. I spent much of the winter collecting plans, reading about Egg tables, and posting the occasional question here. Every question I asked got a lot of great answers. Every once in a while a few even agreed with each other

My table will look familiar to anyone who has looked at Egg table pics or plans. I based mine on Scott Moore's well known plans http://www.scottmoore.net/projects/egg/
(I liked the design of his legs...simpler than some others), but used some ideas from whiz flashburn and some others. And of course I added my own ideas (some of which even worked out OK).

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/co/q4p6wiit2txn.jpg

{sorry about the sunlight through the fence; the top shelf boards run the conventional long way; shadows make it look like they might be cross ways}

Notes: the good, bad, and indifferent (i.e., just how I did it).
My best idea (well, err...my wife's idea) was I used a left over chunk of granite countertop from my kitchen remodel for under the egg. I had my fabricator cut me a 24" x 24" scrap at the same time he was doing the main cutting on our kitchen counters. You can also see an 18" x 18" leftover porcelain tile on both the top and bottom shelves; another leftover from the kitchen remodel. Not that anyone will ever notice, but now my egg is color-coordinated with our new kitchen

I got 3 free old BGE feet from my dealer, which gives me a 1/2" air gap. I also used nylon washers (plumbing dept). to elevate the granite and porcelain tiles 3/16" off the wood to allow better drainage.

I am a pretty tall guy, so I built the top of table to be 38" high (2" higher than a normal kitchen counter). That is a great height for me, and much than the typical kitchen table height (~ 30") that most plans had). I also put the Egg more in the middle of the table, so I have work space on both sides.

I used the dimensions from the old BGE plan for a medium egg; still available but hidden on their site at
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjvp7_O6-vNAhWBsB4KHRzUD-sQFggcMAA&url=http://www.biggreenegg.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/BGE-TP-MEDIUM.pdf&usg=AFQjCNF73apfknIjcIWUIoVS6ldKFw-4Jw&sig2=TF235A1m9w3hY0Rz_xePFA&bvm=bv.126130881,d.dmo
I had to allow for the 3 cm (~1") granite base and the feet in calculating the upper shelf to lower shelf distance.

I sprung for clear pine for the top (1.25 x 6" x 6' from HD); the rest is better grade construction 2x4s, 2x6, and 1x6s for the upper side panels. Because I got the top lumber in 6', I cut the top to use all the expensive wood; the max length of my top is 6'. That gives me a bigger work area than the typical 4' top in many plans.

I got a friend who does a lot of woodworking to make the curved cuts: the hole and the ends. I expected him to use a jig on either a router or a hand held jig saw to make the curved cuts. He said that wasn't necessary at all (for him maybe!). He used his good quality hand jig saw to cut freehand following his pencil lines. Skill does help!! The circle was drawn using a straighforward carpenter's compass. He used a 36" steel rule to draw the lines for the table top rounded ends. The table top (with the overhang of the frame) was 28" wide. I curved the rule and held the rule's ends at the ends of the table top while he drew the line. Doing this at both ends gave identical curves at each end of the top. These curves are purely cosmetic, but do class the whole thing up.

Scott Moore's leg plans worked great. Each leg has both a short part and a long part. There is a doubled 2x4 on the bottom, with a cross member sitting on top of the short leg. Much easier than using a 4 x 4 and cutting a dado for the cross member.

I added one additional cross strut than Moore's plans. On the short end of the table top (i.e., end where the Egg is located) he the short boards of the table top going from the egg hole to the end of the table top only attached to the narrow edge of a single 2x4 cross member of the frame. Even glued-and-screwed I didn't like the one point of contact. So I added another cross member; now one is inside the leg and one I added is outside. Gluing-and-screwing the short top boards to the 2 cross members is better IMHO. Just because something might be over-engineered doesn't mean its a bad thing!

I used MinWax's Helmsman Spar Urethane (oil based formula) semi-gloss. The top has 4 coats, and everything else has at least 2. Following a suggestion from this board I put a first coat on all sides of each piece BEFORE I glued-and-screwed everything together. After assembly I then put at least one more coat on all still exposed surfaces. All exposed crosscut ends got I don't know how many coats...I really wanted to seal those potential weak spots. Helmsman has a natural yellow tint. So although I did not stain the pine, it comes out with a very nice color (the pic doesn't show the color well).

WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY
1) I used 2x6's for the lower shelf. That may have been needed to hold an XL egg, but was waaaay over kill for my medium. With the side boards, and one cross member in the middle, 1x6's would have been plenty. The table is way heavier than necessary

2) I made the top side boards out of 1x6s, and the lower side boards from 2x6s. With the height of medium egg, that didn't give me much space between the lower shelf and the bottom of the side board. You can see in the picture that the lower ventilation hole in the egg is hard to get to. I would use 1x4's instead, or perhaps even a 1x3 of the "front" side of the table (the side where I stand and where the ventilation hole faces) to give better access.

3) I would have used a simple 1/2" round-off router bit all the way around the top shelf edge. This would be purely cosmetic (softened the edges with sandpaper already), but would be nice. We ran out of time at my well-equipped friends house to do this, and I don't have a router at home (yet....)

LEFT TO DO
1) find the perfect beer bottle opener...the right side of the front board is yearning for one
2) figure out a way to tell my friends who have ceramic smokers that I am NOT going to make them one next