Project Information
I just finished and delivered this coffee table this morning. I built it for my school's annual fundraiser dinner and auction. I teach 7th/8th grade Language Arts at a great little charter middle school called River Middle School (Thus the river in the table).
The last couple years they have asked each advisory class (like homeroom class) to make an art project for the live auction. Since I first fell in love with woodworking during middle school I wanted to do something with working…and expose the kids to it. Someday I would like to start a program at our school because both years I have done this I have gotten some kids to really like it.
We get a couple of work hours (lol!!!!) To work on the projects at school with our class…so I had my students help me with sanding the parts…after that I took over and finished the table at home.
This year I used a redwood slab for the top…routed out the river…coated the river with a light coat of clear epoxy mixed with blue glow in the dark epoxy…then we set in marbles and filled it with clear epoxy. Then went back and added a final coat of clear epoxy to fill in the rest of the river and the table top to create a bar top finish. The base is is made of thick Big Leaf Oak and redwood frame.
The Table is 52 inches long, 21 inches at it's narrowest spot and 25ish at widest…
I think it turned out amazing. There are some blemishes and mistakes that I would still be working on if I had another week…i would have sanded the base down and added one more coat of poly…and there were some drips on the side that could be knocked down more…but you have to get really close and be at the right spot to see them.
Overall this project was full of new lessons for me and I am pretty proud of this one!
Here are some photos from the build.
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The last couple years they have asked each advisory class (like homeroom class) to make an art project for the live auction. Since I first fell in love with woodworking during middle school I wanted to do something with working…and expose the kids to it. Someday I would like to start a program at our school because both years I have done this I have gotten some kids to really like it.
We get a couple of work hours (lol!!!!) To work on the projects at school with our class…so I had my students help me with sanding the parts…after that I took over and finished the table at home.
This year I used a redwood slab for the top…routed out the river…coated the river with a light coat of clear epoxy mixed with blue glow in the dark epoxy…then we set in marbles and filled it with clear epoxy. Then went back and added a final coat of clear epoxy to fill in the rest of the river and the table top to create a bar top finish. The base is is made of thick Big Leaf Oak and redwood frame.
The Table is 52 inches long, 21 inches at it's narrowest spot and 25ish at widest…
I think it turned out amazing. There are some blemishes and mistakes that I would still be working on if I had another week…i would have sanded the base down and added one more coat of poly…and there were some drips on the side that could be knocked down more…but you have to get really close and be at the right spot to see them.
Overall this project was full of new lessons for me and I am pretty proud of this one!
Here are some photos from the build.
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