Rethinking your table design

jonboy

There are a lot of nice tables and designs here.
And on nakedwhiz site.
If you were going to redesign your table and area, what would you do differently?
More storage, work area, covered area.
I will use this info as part of my planning and design.
jon

"Sparky"

Hey jonboy,my main concern when building my table was a covered area :pinch: I love having a roof over the eggs :cheer: Here's a pic of my original "smokehouse".When I built it,I only had two eggs.



Then I got two more eggs,and needed to expand.I'm still working on the new "smokehouse",but it'll have plenty of counterspace :cheer:The bottom shelf is great for all of my platesetters,pizza stones,and grids.We'll see how it works out(if I ever finish it) :ohmy:



The XL will stay is it's nest......



The small and medium will be built in....



Hope this helps a little For me,a roof is very important :cheer:

jonboy

That looks really nice.
What size did you to with?
16 byb 16 or other?
thanks,
jon

Cpt'n Cook

I would have made mine for a slide-in Egg and not for a drop-in,

[Deleted User]

The basic design on the BGE website and TNW website is quite good. It allows for upgrades.

What I would do differently:

At the time I made mine 4'-0" in length, thinking I was going to be more frugal by using increments of standard 8'-0" stock lengths. (I think I was overthinking it). About 6" longer would've been better because the BGE cover I bought for it would fit better. Also, the work space would've been better.

When I built it I put wheels (8"? 10"?) on the heavy end and then added heavy duty casters later. I recommend putting ALL the wheels on when you first build it. for all the work to add those casters, the work surface wound up with a slight pitch to it.

Besides casters, I added the following: holes to receive a market umbrella, a drop leaf on one end, hooks for tools, storage for platesetter, pizza stone, leg and wing rack, raised grid and spider, bottle openers.

Smoking Coles

Hi jonboy, I agree with Cpt'n Cook about the slide in/out design vs. drop in. I like to carry my eggs to different functions and this would have been nice not to have to lift the egg in and out all the time. Second change I would make is to add a hard surface area (ie. tile, stone, granite)to the top of the table, mine is all wood and I would have liked to had a place to lay really hot things. One thing I love about my tabel is the drawer, cabinet and ash pans, those all have been very nice to have. Good luck.

jonboy

That ashpan idea is great.
I dont think that i have seen that.
jon

Matt_inSC

I built my egg table this wknd based very closely on Naked Whiz's design. No pic as of yet but here are some points I would change/rethink if doing again...

1. Wish I knew this forum was out there. Very good ideas/pics here.
2. I used 2x4 and 2x6 material for frame and a very clear pine (1X4 material) for upper and lower decks. I think I'll be $150 or less for all materials when it's done. If doing again I would consider going with a nicer looking wood for frame.
3. Take care in lining up screws. My screws on the decks are laid out very neatly in clean/even rows. Not so on the lower frame. Not horrible but I know I'll see that each time I look at it.
4. I paid the extra $$ and used stainless steel screws. I think it will be worth it in the long run. They're expensive but maybe only $15 to $20 more (total) over deck screw or similar.
5. Naked Whiz's material list calls for 10" hand truck wheels from HD. They were ~$20 each at my HD. I got good-looking wheels at Harbor Freight for $6 each. Instead of using threaded rod I bought a solid rod (HD), drilled holes in the ends and used cotter pins.
6. I like the look of the rounded ends of the decks on the BGE table. Wish I had done that.
7. I took the time to break (with hand-plane) every edge on the boards for my decks. The raw boards were very crisp/sharp on their edges so something was needed and the planed edges are uniform but not machined-looking.

Sorry for the long post but the project is fresh in my head.

Smoking Coles

Very Nice Sparky, I hope to have a place to do something like your set up in the future. I'm sure you'll really enjoy it. Cheers.