Butcher Block Hardwood Table

The idea for the table came only after I had gotten the wood which was given to my father by a friend as scrap wood he thought should be burnt. My dad realized the most of it was quality hardwood that should be repurposed for something more than kindling. So the wood was free, with all the other things I purchased for the table I spent around $80… yes, I got lucky!

I laid out what I thought the table should look like in Google Sketchup (See attached file). I wanted a butcher block style table, using a random pattern of types of wood.  The final size ended up being 42”x42”… looking back I should have went for an even 4’x4’ but it was plenty of sanding as it was. The legs are 1”x4”’s of oak glued in an “L” shape to improve stability. I also added a thin 1”x4” of aspen to the inside, since I wanted a lighter colored wood to offset the oak, as a skirt that also adds a little rigidity.

The legs are 30” high which brings the overall table height to about 31 ½”. The project took about 60 hours to complete, the majority of that time was spent sanding!

Materials
Wood
Glue
Corner Brackets
Polyurethane

Tools
Pipe Clamps
Table Saw
Circular Saw
Belt Sander
Tape Measure
Square/Level
Drill/Bits (for pilot holes on for the leg brackets)
Patience

Steps
1. Cutting the wood
2. Gluing the pieces
3. Sand/Plane
4. Attach legs
5. Polyurethane

Step 1 Cut the wood

I set my table saw to a width of a little over 1 ½” and cut the raw boards into strips that would all be the same height when laid out vertically. I didn’t worry about how long the strips would be because I wanted a random pattern, so the most important part was just to make sure the sides of the boards were square. Then I arranged them on a makeshift particle board workbench making sure to separate similar colors of wood. After I had them arranged in a way, I used 3 pipe clamps to start gluing the boards together.

Comments

[JohnsonJ]

I love working with reclaimed wood, It just has so much more character. Not to mention its great for the environment.

[ceknight]

Great job! I've often wanted to do this, but thought I would need a jointer to get the sides of the pieces square enough to mate up well. Glad to see it works without it. Just may have to tackle one now. Guess now that you are done all those hours of sanding you can get back to reading all those newspapers gathering on your porch, eh...lol.

[ben10886]

Don't get me started on those papers. i live in a house divided into three separate apartments, each one gets delivered a paper to my porch 6 days a week. That's a lot of paper, and NOBODY actually reads them. I've tried to get them to stop delivering them but they just keep dropping off 3 everyday... what a waste.

[Katie5757]

Ben.. wrap the papers up, and address them to whoever sent them.. they will need to pay the default postage, and ensure that they cancel the subscriptions, or order, or whatever non-system they have.

[ben10886]

Done. Thank you!

[ceknight]

Really! Wow. a waste indeed, even if they are recycled. You should bag them all up unremoved from their plastic wrappers and dump them on the subscription manager's desk.

[Mr. Eel]

How heavy was your table after it was all finished?

[ben10886]

Its terribly heavy. Its a two person job to move it even a little bit. But that defiantly makes it feel solid!

[sssaksena]

good thinking with the scrap wood. this is going to be my next project. Hats off!

[rcfinn]

Beautiful table, but I have 1 question: how did you ensure that all the wood was exactly the same thickness and flat (unwarped)? Did you use a jointer and/or planer or some other method?

[ben10886]

i didn't use anything besides a table saw, I cut each board down to the same width. Looking back I wish i had a planer to use but I didn't. Some of the wood that was too warped was discarded.

[rcfinn]

So all your wood was already, say 3/4" thick? I would think that the glue-up would have been difficult or impossible if the thicknesses were off even by 1/16th.

[smith5111]

That's a nice project. shows that even scraps can be useful.

[79spitfire]

That turned out really nice! Way to go.

[Rodro226]

Piece of art... Congratulations!

[CatTrampoline]

Beautiful finished piece, and very clear directions. I tip my hat to you!

[MaryT8M]

BEAUTIFUL! Thanks for the great instructable and pictures!

[ChapDad]

Great find with the wood, and good work making something beautiful out of it.

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Very beautiful table! Love the color and wood variations.

[jessyratfink]

Beautiful work!