Punkin's Playground
A big craft table for an open area in the basement
Introduction
This table was specially made to fit into Debbie’s craft area. It of my own design, and turned out to be very sturdy even though it is a 4' by 8' span.
The Design
Sketchup
As usual with most projects, the design starts in Sketchup. It is a super-cool tool that, once you get the hang of it, lets you draw up things like this pretty quick. It lets you really visualize the work.
There is even a plug-in for Sketchup, called Open Cut List, that will take your drawing and generate a parts list for you, complete with all the cuts that need to made on either the plywood or the solid wood. It’s really quite amazing.
I really shouldn’t be telling everyone all my secrets.
A big piece of 4'x8' Baltic Birch plywood was used as the main surface. If you’ve not worked with that material before, I highly recommend it. It is nice stuff, super strong, made of 13 layers of wood instead of the 5 or 7 you get at the big box store. You can get it here at KJP Select Hardwoods Baltic Birch, check it out!
Under Construction - Literally
Torsion Box
To make it strong enough over that 4'x8' span, it created a ‘Torsion Box’ using various scraps of other plywood that I had lying around from other projects.
It basically means that you put 3 to 4 inch strips running down the length and width of the plywood, which makes it incredibly strong. The maple trim around the outside also helped with the structural integrity.
Funky Legs
The legs worked well. I was a little nervous about this design at the outset, but it turned out rock solid, with 16 screws on each leg securing it to the top.
The legs are removable in case we ever want to move it. That’s never going to happen.
In Play
Materials
- KJP Select Hardwoods Baltic Birch plywood for the top and legs from KJP Select Hardwoods Baltic Birch
- Maple trim also from KJP
- Shaper Origin to carve the inlay
- Gray Chill Epoxy for the inlay
- Latex paint from Benjamin Moore