Last week, I was able to make a little bit of progress on the table.  I first fixed a long crack that was in one end of the board using pocket hole screws and glue.

I started by drilling two holes along one side of the crack with my Kreg-Jig.

Then, I used a piece of paper to spread glue between the two surfaces.

Finally, I screwed it together and then clamped it while the glue dried.

I let it dry for a couple of days to get a really good seal.

Then, because our tabletop came to us in two pieces, I worked on attaching them back together. Because the pieces split apart (instead of being cut apart), I needed to cut off both rough edges to make smooth, straight sides that could be joined back together without large gaps between them. The skinnier piece was easy to handle. Since one side was already square, I measured the width from that side and cut it to size using the table saw. The wider board was more trouble because my table saw will only handle boards up to 24″ wide. I used a spare 2″ x 4″ as a spacer, though, which turned out fine.

I also used a hand planer to make a few minor adjustments.

And then I sanded it to make it as smooth as possible.

After that I was almost ready to put them together. I pulled out my nifty Kreg-Jig again and got set up to drill the pocket-holes.  I set my drill bit and drill guide to the 3/4 inch thickness settings. After glancing at the guidebook that came with it, I found the guide for putting panels (long joining pieces) together. There needed to be a screw 2 inches from either end, with a screw every 6 inches between them. I clamped the two pieces together and dry fit the joint (meaning I screwed the pieces together without gluing them).  Then I took it apart and cleaned up the holes by running some sandpaper over them.

Time for glue! I ran a nice bead of glue on both edges that were being joined, and then used my finger to smear the glue around the entire surface of both pieces.  Finally, I could clamp the two pieces together and put the screws back in.  If you are doing this, set your drill on a low torque setting, and finish tightening them by hand.  This will help prevent stripping the screws out.

I wiped away the excess glue that was squeezed out of the joint and then set the piece aside.  I didn’t need to keep it clamped, because the screws were holding the two pieces together firmly.

Then, last night, Melissa and I finally got to strip the old layers of varnish and stain off the wood. We used Dad’s Easy Spray Paint, Stain, Sealer & Varnish Remover, which had come highly recommended to us by Melissa’s parents who used it to strip all the original woodwork on their stairs.

Turns out, the stuff does work really well. Just be really careful when using it as it has warnings all over the metal container about it being poisonous and hazardous and all those other crazy things. (It can deteriorate the metal can after 6 months, so beware of letting it touch your skin or clothes.)

We wore two pairs of gloves each to protect our skin.

And we opened the garage door for ventilation even though Melissa complained about it being cold out there. We didn’t use the spray bottle but we did use old brushes and Chinese food containers to apply the stripper.

Here’s how it looked before (on the right) compared to the first corner we started refinishing:

We used a putty knife to scrape all the residue away.

 

Here’s the table after one application and removal.

We repeated the process several times (I think 3 times) before using rags to wipe down the surface a couple more times.

Here’s another photo of the process. See the difference each pass with the stripper makes? You can easily see the progress as the wood got lighter and lighter.

Finally, we called it good enough, even though we probably could have gotten more off. It’s a pretty big difference from where we started.

 

Remember how dark it was?

I’m also going to sand down the surface some which should help take care of any irregular darker or lighter surfaces, although we want to leave some subtle differences for contrast. And we’re still undecided on what kind of finish we’re going to give this. Possibly just a clear coat. Possibly some type of really thin white wash…Melissa doesn’t know what she wants yet.

What kind of projects are you working on that require slow progress?