Gin Themed Side Table Made From a Pallet

In this Instructable I will show you how I went about transforming a Pallet into a funky Gin themed Garden table.

I'd seen the pallet at my local sports club and asked if I could have it, the answer was yes so I took it apart there and then with my trusty Pallet breaker.

There are many pallet tables out there, I believe this one is a bit different.

At the end of the Instructable I will show you how to make a really easy Gin/wine bottle stand as well, it looks as though the bottle is balancing which it is in a way but very good all the same.

In this build I will be using a CNC machine to cut out the letters and various other cutting machinery so throughout these operations I will be using the appropriate PPE which will include Eye Protection, Ear Protection and Dust Mask.

In this build I'm using what machinery I have to hand purely because its there, this table can be made with basic tools, Hand Saw's etc.

For the Table.

A Pallet, the cleaner the better really dependent on how rustic you want it.

Assorted screws and screw cups.

Wood Glue.

CNC Machine(Optional)

1/4 inch V60 Router Bit.

Blow Torch.

Chop Saw.

Wood thicknesser(Optional)

Palm Sander

Sand Paper

For the Wine Stand

Pallet wood 8 and a half inches.

1 3/8 - 1 1/2 Forstner bit or Hole saw.

Sand paper.

Some pallets split really easily and the nails just knock out Job done! This was not the case with this pallet, it came apart easily enough but the nails! no way were they coming out so I opted for cutting between the nails and salvaging the wood that way.

I'm using a wood thicknesser to trim the top surfaces of the wood, saves on sanding but once again its optional and with this done I could cut the lengths to size.

With no plans as usual I just went with what I thought would look ok for a small side table.

The top of the table slats were cut to Approx 380mm I cut 4no at this length this measurement will be used for the side pieces which will say Tonic and Lemon and also 2 of the leg braces, the pallet wood is 20mm thick and the Gin and Ice lengths are cut to suit.

With the top pieces cut and sanded, I flipped them over and took care to align them and then using 2 pieces of 60 x 40mm cut to 340mm these would be screwed through to hold the top pieces of the table in position, I used the side pieces of the table as guides to ensure they were flush to the edge of the table top(see photo).

Before screwing anything down I applied wood glue, and then screwed everything in place, at this point I routed the edge of the table top just to round the edges off. Optional of course.

The legs were cut to 60 x 40 on the table saw and I thought a good height would be around 500mm for the Table so these were cut at 480mm allowing for the thickness of the table top.

After cutting to size the 4 lengths were sanded and ready to be fitted, I used a workmate to clamp the table top and then measured where I wanted the holes for the 2no screws which would hold each leg in place applying glue before tightening the screws, the legs were screwed to the 340mm lengths of timber so they were flush with the ends, using a set square to align.

With the legs secured it was time to cut the letters out for the side pieces, the design software will be Vetric Cut2D

Onto the design.

Using Vetric Cut 2D the first thing we need to do is to input the dimensions in set up, Once done we can then create a rectangle to house the letters or input the letters first and create a rectangle to suits, the letters in my case were Arial as the font and 45mm Bold using Capitals, centre the letters within the rectangle then centre the letters and rectangle within the work piece.(Screen shots show the procedure)

We now need to create a tool path, for this we select the pocket tab, and highlight both the Rectangle and letters, this will cut the letters out of the rectangle, rename the file then save to desk top, the file can then be sent to the CNC machine.

No frills for clamping, just 2 pieces of wood with a hole in, and screwed at each end of the piece.

A 1/4 inch V60 bit, I used the centre of each piece as the Zero, this is done in the Set up.

The above applies to all 4 of the side pieces.

Prior to starting this procedure I had a brainwave, it was going to be an outdoor table so why not blowtorch the wood, this was something I'd seen before but never tried it, and it wasn't too late to do it, so I did it, the results were pretty good, looks completely different.

To start with I aligned the Tonic piece, ensuring it was flush to the edges and butted up to the underside of the table top, and then marked where I wanted the holes, ensuring that I wouldn't hit any screws holding the legs in place, I drilled this piece and screwed in place using screw cups, the same procedure was applied to the remaining 3 Pieces.

All there was left to do now was to secure the Leg braces, I measured up from the bottom of each leg and same as above did the piece below the Tonic, and secured the same way as the engraved side pieces, then I blowtorched the underside of the table as well and any other bits I had missed, there we have it, the Table was complete, I was very pleased with the outcome considering it was an old Pallet.

Bonus Wine Bottle stand:

Whilst I was looking for Inspiration on Youtube I came across this Wine bottle stand, It was just a slat of wood with the bottom cut at 45 degrees and a Hole in it for the neck of the bottle, Looks as though its balancing which it is in a way, but very clever I thought so had a go at making one and include it with the Table build.

This is how I made this particular one.

I think this would work with any thickness of Pallet wood or any wood really, the principle is the same as with the width of the wood, but I also think due to the nature of it, its better with a bigger footprint.

The width of Pallet wood I used was 100mm thickness was 20mm and the length was 8 1/2 inches or so, doesn't have to be exact.

First of all we need a length of timber, In this case it was pallet wood, cut to the dimensions of the above, the chop saw cutting blade was set on an angle of 45 degrees and a cut was made across the piece, it was then cut to length at 8 1/2 inches, measuring 2inches down from the non angled end and centred, a 1"3/8 Forstner bit was used to drill a hole straight through the wood using a backing piece of scrap wood to stop splintering, that's basically it, I have seen a video where the hole was drilled at 45 degrees making the bottle more horizontal, personal choice I guess, I don't drink wine so I don't know which angle is best if I'm honest.

I think a word of warning as well, I suggest the wine bottle holder needs to be out of the way, if it get's too much of a knock it will be on the floor wine as well and this will create tears for a number of different reasons:(

As always I hope you found this Instructable helpful and thanks for looking.