This Is: A Table

This is an old piece of countertop.

This is a pair of old sawhorse brackets that I found in the woods behind my house.

This is four used carriage bolts.

This is a stack of 2-by-4s.

This is coffee.

This is a table.

So I was digging through the barn when I found this great old piece of wood. As you can see, the one side had the remains of laminate on it. I thought the wood would make a great top for the table I wanted to put in my future fire pit area. (If I keep saying I'm going to have a fire pit, it will happen, you'll see.)

Three of the edges had this trim on it, which just added to its charm.

I wasn't going to scrape all the laminate off because I was going to use that side for the bottom of the table...

...but once I started, I couldn't stop.

When I was done, I got to play with my sander. A good sanding got rid of that slight water damage on the side I wanted to use for the top. The wood is so nice I'm not sure why they ever put laminate on it.

While I was sanding the top, the former bottom, I found 2957 written on it, which means it was in the house my brother now lives in, not the old farmhouse.

The neatest feature of the old wood is all the wormholes in it. You can't fake that kind of aging now matter how hard you try.

Here's the top when I was done sanding. Look at the pretty grain.

After drilling some holes and cutting down the 2-by-4s, I was ready to finish. Instead of taking a stain to it, I tried this coffee stain idea I found on the Internet. I even threw down some of the coffee grounds. It's easy. It involves brewing strong coffee, taking a coffee break to drink some of said coffee, then use the coffee as if it was stain. It's supposed to be a good way to make new wood look aged, so I was curious what it would make already-aged wood look like.

Here's how it looked before and after staining. Can you tell the difference? Me either. But at least my coffee-stained coffee table smells like coffee now. And you can't beat that with a stick.