Introduction: Not the Normal Pallet Wood Coffee Table

About: Hello Im John. Im a avionic engineer. i also have a YouTube channel where i upload videos of me making stuff. check it out you can find me most places as JohnMadeit or visit my website where i have links to al…

I like to make furniture and anything else from pallets like lots of people but i don't just want to stack a few pallets on top of each other add some wheels and call it it a coffee table. in this coffee table I made I disassembled some pallets and reassembled them so they that you still know they are pallets but it isn't just a few pallets nailed together. i all so used a few other bits of scrap wood laying around my workshop.

Step 1: The Table Legs I.e Blocks From the Pallets

In the picture you can see me the guy in the red t-shirt and a stack of pallet boards that I had removed and jointed, cut length ways to get a better glue ups between the boards.In the other picture you can see me trimming the corners of the blocks. I will use them as the legs of the tables but the will be put at a angle and because some blocks already had the corners cut of i want to cut the corners off the others to give them all a slimier shape. I also wanted to keep the stamps on the legs visible to keep the looks of the pallets

Step 2: Table Top Frame

I used some off scrap wood that i had laying around to create a frame that the table tops would sit on or in. i say on or in because with this design of table you can change the layers of the table around to have different tables top on view.

Step 3: Table Top Glue Up

here you can see me laying pallet wood boards across the frame and gluing them up. this is just one of the 3 table tops.

Step 4: Marking Out the Table Top

after gluing up the table top i laid the frame on top of this and marked out where i needed to cut to allow it to fit in between the frame.

Step 5: Cutting

I used my home made track saw and circular saw to cut the line in marked out on the previous step.

Step 6: Attaching One Thing to the Other Thing

Nothing fancy here. I used pocket hole screws to attach the table top to the table top frame that I made in the previous steps. I just made sure to use clamps and glue for a nice tight fit.

Step 7: Another Table Top

Here you can see me gluing up a different table top but instead of having the table top sit inside the frame this one lays on top of it. The wood I used on this one was from some leftover stock I had from a previous project. i decided to use this so that you could have the choice of a cleaner uniform table top. also i run out of pallet wood and braking apart pallets is a lot of work.

Step 8: Cutting and Routing

When I glued the table top on to the frame I used my track saw to cut of the extra over hanging boards then used a round over bit on the edges. I also trimmed of the corners of the table tops with the track saw which you we see why in later pictures.

Step 9: The Block I.e Table Legs

The pallet block that I had trimmed off the corners earlier was now glued on. The old trusted finger glue spreader worked great here.

Step 10: Sanding and Finishing the Wood

It wasn't just now that i was sanding. all most after every step I was sanding but no one what to keep hearing "and then i sanded". but when ever you make something from wood you will need to sand the more you do the better the finish project. I used some oil then wax for the final finish but there are several different finishes you could use.

Step 11: Problems!!!

I thought I would be able to just let each layer of the table rest on top of each other but because of the oil, wax and the 5000 grit sanding I did (its not fine wood working, I just about went up to 220 grit sanding) that the layers became a bit slippery and would easily slide about each other. So I drilled a hole in each leg. And in between each layer of the table I would have a disk that would have a dowel sticking out the top that would go into the bottom of the leg above and the tip of a nail would be sticking out the bottom of each of the disk which would cause some friction on the table top below. Top stop them slipping around and on the very bottom legs I had some disk with wheel on because the table was very heavy and this would help move it around when needed.

Step 12: Finished

Here you can see the Finished table. there are 3 different layers of the table giving the possibility for three different table tops. this table was for a dear friend and she asked that there was a hole cut into the top so that some glass jars could sit in that she would use to put candles, flowers etc to decorate the table. check out my video to see my details.

Furniture Contest 2018

Participated in the
Furniture Contest 2018