diy furniture
If you want to learn more about the original purpose of a barn trolley, check out: coolmodelengines.com/ html_pages/barn_carrier_descript.html
tions and precautions on the label of the finish you choose. In short, all you need to do is prep the surface with some min- eral spirits, wipe on your desired stain or paint, and apply furniture wax, shellac, or polyurethane. Generally, you will want to use a light sanding block in between a few coats of shellac or polyurethane. Step 7 Relax, and enjoy your new barn trolley table! ^ Adam Magers is the sole proprietor of Timber Furniture KC, a locally owned and operated small business in Kansas City, MO. After eight years in the U.S. Army, including a tour to Baghdad, Iraq, as a combat medic with an IED clearance platoon, he came home to KCMO to pursue the American dream. He earned a mas- ter’s degree in the cognate fields of International Relations and Comparative Politics at Missouri State University, but after finishing grad school he found himself living for his time away from work, doing what he loves most: hanging out with his wife and creating furniture.
also a good idea to attach the block with some U-bolts, cable, or wire to ensure you’ve got a strong connec- tion. Get creative!
Step 4 After studying and sketching your table layout, mark your boards for each cut. Always measure your boards, mark them, and measure them again. Lay them out to determine which pieces you want to sit next to each other. Remember to alternate the grain to prevent the boards from warping, twisting, or bowing. (Look at the end of each board and examine the direction of the grain.) Assemble the boards using simple glue, clamp, hammer and nails or take it to the next level with a biscuit joiner. A biscuit joiner makes small football-shaped cutouts inside the board. Simply push a biscuit joiner against the side of a board while it’s running, and it makes the cut. It is very easy to use. Make identical cuts on the joining boards, glue the sides of the boards and joints, and insert a biscuit (a football-shaped wooden insert) into the cutouts. Then, clamp the boards and leave
them to dry. The biscuit soaks up the glue and swells, creating a very strong joint. After the glue has dried and your joints are good, you can add trim pieces to the outside of the table if you desire. Step 5 Go ahead and attach your tabletop. If you don’t have power tools, use nails to nail your top into the block attached earlier. Just make sure the barn trolleys are straight and located where you want them. If you have a pocket hole system, finish your top before attaching it. All you really need to do is drill some pocket holes into the block you at- tached to your barn trolley, and insert screws through your pocket holes into the bottom of your tabletop. Step 6 Finish your top. First, fill in your nail holes with a little glue and saw dust. After this has dried, sand it down. If the hole remains, repeat the process. Next, read all of the direc-
VintageKC / Spring 2013 11
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs