Project Information
I was driving around with a buddy and we found this bin that said free wood. It didn't really have much to offer just a bunch of rotten old scraps from some fencing and decks. After checking it out we continued driving up the road to find more scrap wood. We came across an auto glass place that had a huge pile of scrap and pallet wood. When looking at it I could tell that there was a bunch of poplar in the Heep, All still really clean, and pretty much milled into 4 foot lengths. There was a lot of staples in the pieces, they were pretty easy to get out, but when cleaned the poplar looked great. I went back a couple of times to fill up my trunk, and cleaned the wood in a couple of hours. The next day I milled the pieces nice and square with my jointer and planer. After being able to see what I could work with I decided to make a coffee table. My planer is only 15" so I made 5 15" slabs at about 4 feet in length planed them smooth and then biscuit jointed them together to make the table top. I glued a couple pieces together to make the legs thicker, I then cut and tapered the legs to give a nice clean look. After I attached the apron to the legs with pocket screws and then the apron to the table. I put a 1/4 round as the profile for the table, I would have liked to use a table edge bit but don't have one. And there you have it a table from rags to riches. My next step is to put a finish on it. I don't now how stain will take to such a soft wood like poplar, but I figure if I use a dark stain and a conversion varnish clear it should come out looking real nice. If that is a fail then I will have to paint it and use some distressing tech to get a more rustic look. Let me know what you think. I thought this was a great wood score for being in San Diego, finding hardwoods is difficult especially down here.