Making a Recycled Wood Coffee Table

I need a coffee table for the house on the acreage, so what better way to make a rustic one than yourself out of recycled wood.

Step 1 - Source the wood

The best local-ish timber/lumber place is Urban Salvage in Spotswood, west of Melbourne. They sell both reclaimed timber as well as new, kiln-dried. I prefer the reclaimed, however you are restricted by size.

I'll be making this table from recycled Messmate, which has been the most common building timber in Victoria and therefore creates the most amount of recycled and remilled timber.

It comes in a variety of sizes, but I'll be using 80 x 40 mm for the legs and ends and 115 x 35 mm for the top. The bottom shelf is from 142 x 19 mm flooring, while the rails will be cut from 100 x 40 mm lengths.

Step 2 - Design

This design uses the 80 mm beams for every piece except the lower shelf, which has three pieces at 19 mm. Some pieces, such as the side rails, will need to be cut from the 100 mm pieces

I'm only using edge-gluing and biscuit joining in this piece to keep things simple.

Step 3 - The lower shelf and side rails

This is made from 3 pieces of 142 x 19 mm flooring where I have removed the tongues and grooves on the table saw.

I checked my edges for square (perfect!) and set up my jig for gluing.


I have decided not to use biscuits for the shelf and instead to use edge joints with sufficient clamping to create a flat surface.






The boards are sitting on strong rails that are taped over to prevent damage from any excess glue. The the boards are edge glued and aligned and a top rail is clamped down to level the boards.




Finally, the horizontal clamps are tightened to pull the boards together. I left the jig overnight to dry.






I also cut the two side rails at 40 mm high (to match the end rails) and biscuit joined them to the main piece.

Step 4 - The table top

I'm gluing up the table top in three separate stages to ensure it is as flat as possible. Without a thicknesser, I cannot guarantee that the boards will align, so I need to avoid as much sanding as possible but getting the boards to glue up as close as possible. I have used the table saw to get the edges square.

I'm starting with three boards. The middles board is not quite the same as the other two, so I'm using clamps to hold the pieces as close as possible while the glue sets.

Then I join the side pieces on with biscuits. This allows for some variation in the side pieces and gets them correctly aligned. This, in turn, reduces sanding.

Step 6 - Then end frames

The end frames are quite simple pieces, all biscuit joined together. I'm using double biscuits, well aware that these joints are not as strong as traditional mortise and tenon joins. But I don't have the equipment and can't justify the cost just yet. So its biscuits all the way!

To get the double biscuits aligned, I used the table top as the main edge, then used 6 mm MDF as well as 19 mm ply as spacers. This gave me consisted biscuit spacing with 6 mm between the biscuits. I was very happy with this process as it was really easy and the result as a frame that was easy to glue up.

Prior to gluing I did the all-important step of cutting additional biscuits to glue the bottom shelf in place, as well as biscuits for the top two side rails. This will make life a lot easier afterwards.

I also cut a 5 mm slot in all the top pieces to allow table z clips to be used to join the top on afterwards.

 After all this measuring and cutting, I finally had my two ends!

Step 7 - The crossed end pieces

While the crosses on the end are the hardest part, they really add an element of design to what is otherwise a pretty standard oblong table.

It was quite easy in the end. I simply lined up the cut pieces on the finished end-frames, drew a line with the pencil, then adjusted the drop-down mitre saw to cut at that angle. It went very well and I had the main cuts done in no time.

Then I repeated the process for the partial cuts to allow the crosses to interlock with each other. I set the depth of the mitre saw to 19 mm (halfway) and did a series of cuts to create the final groove in the timber. Then it all slotted together nicely.

I then drilled holes from the top and bottom of the frame to enable later screwing in of the crosses.

Step 8 - The big glue-up

Gluing takes two people, not because it is complicated but because you just need an extra pair of hands to hold things in place.

I don't have fancy woodworking clamps that can cover the length of the table, so instead I used ratchet tie-downs across the top and the bottom. This pulled the pieces together quite nicely.

After leaving this overnight, I was happy with the result.

Step 8 - Sanding and finishing

I sanded with the belt sander to from 40 then to 80 grit and finally with the orbital sander to 180. Then by hand to 240.

Cleaning up the dust is easiest with a Tack-Cloth. If you have never used one before, this is definitely recommended as it is a sticky cloth that can pick up the fine dust. It is especially good prior to painting, but I use it prior to oiling as well. You can pick them up from any hardware store. Just know what to ask for...

For this project I have opted to use Danish Oil with a satin urethane over the top. Danish Oil is a beautiful finish for any old timber as it soaks in and darkens the timber, but not too much. Just enough to bring out all the grain and texture. You can then paint over the top and a urethane is best for a table to give it some surface strength. I use Minwax Wipe-on Poly, oil based (because the water-based stuff is horrible). This produces a run-free finish, although it does require 3 to 4 coats. But it is good for getting in to small crevices, such as those created by the crosses.

I did end up finishing the crosses before final installation. This enabled me to apply furniture wax. I also finished the base prior to screwing the top on.

The final finish was done by using furniture wax and 0000 steel wool. Just rub the wax in with wool and plenty of elbow-grease, then get some clean wool and wipe up the excess, turning the clean wool several times to ensure all traces of excess wax are removed. This ensures that the surface will be free from smudges once used.

Step 9 - Attach the top

The top was attached by Z-Clips. These came from a woodworking supply shop and are easy to install with 8Gx20mm timber screws.

This gives us the finished product!

I hope you enjoyed reading this and if you have any questions, feel free to send me a message.