Since being unemployed, selling nearly everything, living at Grandpa and Grandma's house in the basement with borrowed furniture and now living on our own for almost a year, we are in sad need of furniture. We've been shopping and shopping. First for a sofa. I wanted to buy the one we sold... a solid La-Z-boy dual reclining burgandy leather sofa. It was perfect. It is gone, but the local place had one. Nope. We looked at the Pottery Barn store. I had no idea you could spend that much on a Sofa. After sitting on camp chairs for the last 8 months, we wanted something, but we didn't want it that bad. Not that they were bad, don't get me wrong: the Pottery Barn stuff appeared to be very high quality We settled on Ikea because we are furnishing an apartment and if/when we buy a house, if we made a more considerable investment, our tastes may change... so that is done. Sitting on the cheap is complete. It has been a month or so now and we have no complaints about them.
The next major furniture piece that we were interested in is a kitchen table. Our plastic folding camp table with the free 5-guys burgers and fries chairs has some issues. It doesn't handle heat well and the center of each section is sunken so that if you use the glass plates and aren't careful, they will slide to the middle. It is only 30" wide and we struggle with 6 of us around it. Here's a shot:
Now isn't that lovely? In keeping with our financial constraints, we opted to not purchase the Amish dining furniture even though it is very well made. The other reasonably priced items were poor quality with chipping veneer-covered particle board or they have too many deep cracks and crevices. Have you ever tried to get spilled milk from between two boards on a table top that were purposely gapped so they might look worn or "distressed?" Sharee found several styles she liked, but they were too wrecked (distressed) or not sturdy. We have to keep reminding ourselves when we shop that we have a Lincoln at home who is nearly 4 and can really do some damage. In the picture above you can see his office mat under his chair at the end of the table to help with spills. So on to the point of this post: I started building Sharee a bookcase (shown below):
and it was progressing nicely, so she asked me to build a table combining her favorite elements of the tables we liked, but were too cheap or to disgusted to buy. After mentioning this to a friend at church, he told me about a 2x10 table he saw online. I checked them out. They are called farmhouse tables and there are several different ways to make them. One guy simply put
legs on a top and then reinforced them with angular attachments. One put
instertable end caps on for extensions and one put
a cross brace under the table. All were informative, but the plans for the pocket jig from the end cap link was the most useful. Two weeks ago on Saturday I bought the wood. Last Saturday I cut the top and glued it:
Each evening this week I have been working on the frame: A few cuts on each day. Corner lag bolts and then side lags and then the angles. Friday evening our babysitter was at a campout, so I assembled it:
The red strap around the base is two ratcheting load straps end to end so the legs stay in place until the lag bolts were drilled and set. I used my electric impact wrench to put in the lag bolts. Very easy, but very loud.
The rails for the sliding ends was taken from
another blog. Great idea! Instead of using a chisel to clear them out though, I just hit them with a hammer. Once they were out, I used the circular saw to clean it up and then my 1/3 width orbital sander fit right down in there to smooth it out nicely.
2x4 slots for the sliding end.
I screwed the end slides together to make sure they were parallel and would slide freely when connected. Added angled pieces (29.4 degrees from tan^-1 = height/length - good thing I still have the ol HP-48)
Framework is complete and today I put it all together.
Cut the top to length. the top sticks out 2" from the sides and the ends. It was 78" before the ends were mounted.
Can you see how that top bowed? If I do this again, I will clamp a 4x4 across the the top and bottom across the grain to keep the top flat. The top was mounted with 1" countersunk lag bolts in the
2x4 framework from the under side up into the top. The top was warped pretty badly most likely from the pocket joints on the bottom and the bending clamps used to hold it while the glue holding the top together dried.
Cutting the end pieces and then mounting them on the 2x4 slides was very quick:
The end piece is the same size as the table pieces. The leaves are from 2x12 cut down to 9" wide. With two, there is too much sag in the top. Below only one leaf is added to each end for a total length of 112 inches. Without the leaves, the table is 7'10" long. I was hoping for 130", but I believe if we cut down the leaves to 7" each, It will be acceptable at 122". If not, it will be 120" or 118". The 2x12 pieces were from a different store. Since they are temporary, I like the mismatch color, but all might not like it.
The features Sharee wanted:
angled supports to the legs
"chunky" 2x4 top thickness and 4x4 legs
exposed bolt heads
distressed top
smooth top / no individual slats to clean between
2x4 cross braces between the legs
An apron below the table top connecting all the legs
3' extension leaves (18" on each end 7' to 10' - may end up being 7'10" - 10')
Sharee's
Likes: its smooth top, its knotty top surface and all the dings and "character" marks
Dislikes: the discolored leaf boards, the sloping lags into the angled supports, the drooping leaf slides
Rob's
Likes: nearly complete and still square (mostly), looks good
Dislikes: sagging leaf ends, how am I supposed to get this thing in a truck? It weighs a ton and does not come apart.
Details: I'll post the freecad drawing of the table if anyone wants it. I didn't model the bolts or the slides, but the main frame and the top are in there and the lengths are correct.
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This year, the guinea pig got pregnant and just last night she had her babies. I've attached a pic of Carmel's three piglets. The rabbits got an opportunity to be rabbits and in a couple weeks, we expect baby bunnies. It has been like the Discovery Channel at our house. We all have eye witnessed conception and birth. 
Above is a picture that a friend took at about 40 or 50 miles.
The second picture is at about 75 miles on a hill. I was pretty tired at that point and really happy I bought the front sprocket set with three on it rather than two so I had super duper granny gear for climbing. At the end of the day I was spent, but not sore. The next day walking up stairs took a bit more effort, but I was actually suprised didn't have any real stiffness or aches other than my foot that goes numb when I excercise. I look forward to doing the next 100 mile ride.
