Table that motion

A few days ago, an elderly neighbor approached me in my garage shop, and asked if i knew where he could get pre-turned legs for a small table he wanted to build. I mentioned he might find some turned spindles at “CasaDePot”, but he replied that he used to buy legs with bolts set in them, ready to be attached to the top. I grabbed my “R” woodwork catalogue, and located legs on pg. 78, and selected the smallest, cheapest leg, priced at $14.95. He blanched at that price, retorting that he USED to pay about a buck for them. “When?,” I asked. “Oh, just after the war.” “Korea!” I exclaimed. ” No, he replied, World War TWO.” Ah, said I, while you are back there, buy me a tank of 18 cent gas! In any event, I found myself at the forementioned “LaCasaDePot”, and spied staircase spindles, (at 75cents each), and a hunk of severely knotted 12×2 pine, a four foot length, (for 2 bucks), and a predrilled steel strap to afix the legs (for $.79). I pulled into his driveway, opened my trunk and exclaimed, “World War II, revisited.”
I promised that should the weather cool, he’d have his TV-guide table in a few days. Because he wanted it really low, I only needed to cut the spindles in half (a buck-fifty saving, lol). I sliced off a 16 inch chunk of the pine, only to have a ring segment fall out, necessitating serious sanding and a pine gummed sand belt. I then decided that the plain pine top wouldn’t do, so inkeeping with his decor i laminated a couple of sheets of quartersawn aniegre to the top and sides, sanded smooth and applied a nice coat of gel rub polyurethane.

-- Dan