Coffee anyone?

This week my project was to complete a coffee table for my friends and neighbours. They had been searching for a long time to find the right table to work in their living room that was newly redone. They wanted it longer and skinnier than the typical coffee tables they found so they hired me to make them one.
Trying to find one that they both liked was difficult, as it always is. The hardest part is trying to agree on a design that suits both people in the house and works for their family.

Another friend had coincidentally posted a table design to my Facebook page

with this link to how to make it. http://thelocker.typepad.com/the_locker/2012/02/diy-industrial-coffee-table.html

I passed it along to my friends looking for a table design and they loved it! It is a great design....so simple, which I always find has the best results. They were looking for a really interesting design with a reclaimed yet polished style.

Once the design was agreed upon, I set about finding wood for this piece. My friends wanted a bottom shelf added as well so I had to figure out how to work that in too.

Of course, if I am looking for reclaimed materials and hardware it means a trip to visit Ed. I hadn't been since before Christmas and it was great to see Ed and his wife, their dogs and 2 of their sons who were there working on some projects using the reclaimed wood and hardware for clients of theirs. Seeing their workshop in the barn I had the biggest pang of envy....that would be my dream workshop...in an old barn surrounded by endless amounts of raw materials???? You'd never see me again!!

In case you are trying to reach Ed, his contact info has changed. He takes visitors by appointment and you can contact him by email at : edwardcasella@hotmail.com or by telephone 905-888-9181

I always love heading up to see him because he has great ideas for projects and never ceases to amaze me with what he has stored in that barn.

I found two pieces of wood for the table....one solid piece 22"by over 6' long!!! This was just the kind of thing I was looking for....and another piece about 13" by 6' long for the bottom shelf. I sanded them down and cut to size for the bottom shelf and length of the top.

I headed to see the orange aprons to get the pipe and fittings for the legs. When I bought the pipe, they cut it down for me and put it through the threading machine. It turned out to be too high (the pieces were too long) so I went back and they recut and threaded them for me...I had to ask nicely to get them cut shorter than their posted minimum length but they said they could do it and delivered.

This is my bundle of pieces and fittings for the legs. I had to wash them off and then assemble them. I also gave them a coat of clear laquer to prevent rusting.

Here are the legs assembled....

The round "flanges" are perfect because you can screw the top wood piece right to them.....the bottom shelf I attached with "C" clamps...which are just that....c-shaped clamps with holes on either side. They wrap around the pipe cross support and then screw to the underside of the bottom shelf.

To finish the wood I used a new product. It's a urethane but is a combination of oil and water based ingredients. So it is easy to clean up after but has the durability and won't show those cloudy water marks you get from pure water based products.

Here's the finished product.