Table With Patchwork From Wood Scraps

This table is fully made of scrap wood material - pine came from wood crates which were holding the new elevator components that were installed at our block. I used some of the unwanted cracked oak material too.

Table top is a "patchwork" of small cut-offs from wood boards that I collected over time.

Before shaping the wood, I disassembled all the crates, checked for hidden nails with a metal detector and then sanded off the planks that were in contact with dirt and dust. I came up with a trick to clamp the planks together - this way cleaning them would be much easier and faster.

I laid aside the widest planks for table legs. They still were not wide enough so I glued additional boards on their sides to make them square. Once dried, I used shaper and planer to make them perfectly square legs.

On the last picture you can see I clamped the legs again to be able to cut all of them to the same length on the miter saw.

As I mentioned before, I glued some cracked oak boards. I will use these for the table top frame. Table top will last longer when making the frame from the hardwood.

To mockup the table top layot - I used masking tape to mark the borders of the future table top and laid the cut-offs to understand how I would glue them.

I really enjoyed this project because of being able to recycle so much material. To paint the table top I also used up much of the unwanted acrylic paint of various colors that I had left from various projects. It was a good wallpaint that you always get left with in different sizes after the house renovation.

The base of the table top was a 16mm birch plywood. I covered all the cut-offs with the glue that resists water after drying and stuck them on the plywood board according to the mockup picture that I took earlier.

Remember the cracked oak that I showed earlier? The frame planks that you see in these pictures were shaped from that board. To make the frame solid and stick it securely to the table top - I used the Domino system to add strength with Domino dowels.

This is a question that is often asked by beginner carpenters. On the photo you can see a typical trick how to make your clamps longer. You can use this trick with the F-clamps as well as the pipe-clamps.

Apron boards were also made from those unwanted elevator wooden carts. Again I used the Domino dowels to join everything. Notice how I used the clamp trick again to put pressure on the longer surfaces.

I fixed the apron to the table top using the Domino dowels. Glue was only applied to dowels, not to the full contact surface area.

Yes, I know, this is not the orthodox way of fixing the table top to its' base - but at least it was a conscious decision. I've had this table for 8 years now and there has not been any problems so far.

My wife is an artist so I have asked her to paint the table using again the left-out paint from previous renovation projects. The style of the paint job was defined by the overall style of the room that it'd go into :-)