For about 3 years I have had a stack of pallet wood sitting in my shop waiting for inspiration to strike. My sister gave it to me, and it had already been taken apart, and run through a planer. This was cool since it took most of the wobble out of the pieces, making them almost uniform. I was hosting a dinner party and wanted something a little more fancy then the plastic folding tables I had for seating. So I took my tables outside, and started working.
I laid them all face down staggering them as I went lining up every other seam so that when I laid down the cross braces to hold it together.
I ended up making it two tables long. Once I had all of the pieces laid out, I laid some cross braces in the opposite direction and nailed them down using my nail gun. I made it into 3 seperate pieces. One for each table, and then one that spanned the gap around the middle where the two tables met. I didn’t want a seam in the middle of the two tables, so I staggered the joints to be long, then short, then long etc.
This is where it got messy. Once I got all of pieces laid out, nailed down, and cut to the size of two tables, I had quite a few gaps. It was pretty secure, but the gaps in between the pieces were not great. So I used a combo of shims, and a glue/ sawdust combo. I used some sawdust from the bag in my shopvac from a previous project. I bought some wood glue. I used this stuff. I like it because it is stainable, and sands great.
I mixed the sawdust and glue until it formed a thick pancake like batter. I used a spackle knife, and applied the paste into the cracks until it was flush with the other pieces. I let it dry overnight, and then the sanding started the next day.
I sanded it using 60 grit first. This took it down to nice raw wood, removing all of the sawdust/ glue combo from the places I didn’t need it. Then I used 100 grit, and did another pass until it was smooth.
You can see the staggered seam that I made in the far right photo. I was trying to avoid a harsh seam down the middle. In the end it didn’t lay completely flush like I had hoped it would but I still think that it worked well enough. I also added some small 1 x 2’s around the edges to create a nice flush look on the sides, and create a finished look.
Then…Next I stained it.
I mixed some Simply white stain with some paint thinner in 1:4 parts. I used so much more paint thinner, because I wanted to slightly bleach the wood. The white stain would help remove some of the orange tones in the wood. The paint thinner, then helps bleach the wood further. I experimented with greys and some other tones like rustic beige, but I ended up liking the white and thinner combo the most. I applied the stain with a paint brush. I did all of this outside to avoid a buildup of fumes, and to help it all dry faster.
After the stain dried, I used some finishing wax to seal it. There was still a little texture on the planks. This wax is white. It is meant to settle into the cracks and texture, and create more depth, while sealing it. It was my first time using this stuff, and I was so impressed. I love the way that it looked. I applied it with a cloth, and buffed it in using small circles.
The final thing I did was secure some velcro under the pieces to strap around the folding table. I brought in all 3 pieces and arranged them on top of the two folding tables. I used my staple gun, and attached a strip of velcro to each side of the table underneath it. Then once attached I could secure the two velcro straps together. This helped it to not slide around on top of the plastic table.
and thats it! It was ready for my dinner party:)
I set the table, and dressed it up with the plates, I had been collecting and vases full of greenery. I love the way the faux stone chargers I made look against the wood. When I was done I took it apart, and it is storing in my side room against a wall. It was the perfect texture for the look we were going for. In the future I look forward to making another one for just a single table as well.
- Amanda