Ooooo buttons! |
Are we ready to paint yet? Are we ready to paint yet?? Are we ready to paint yet??? (mimicking the infamous 'are we there yet' whine).
Man, building stuff takes a long time and so does sanding, and I have short amounts of patience (so you can see how woodworking and I often clash!). I often hit a point in my projects where I just want to fast forward to the fun part of painting and be done with it!
But no...since I'm actually selling this table I can't half ass it...or can I?? ;p
Where did I leave off last? Working on the buttons, the frame was cut out and ready to build the side panels on to the existing top panel. I cut out my side panels and attached them to the top panel using good 'ol wood glue and pocket holes with my trusty Kreg Jig (I bought this a while back and have been itching to actually use it on something!). I clamped the sides together and waited for the magic that is glue drying.
After attaching the side panels, I screwed some scrap wood onto the backside so I could attach my buttons on to it as the last step (yeah...don't ask why I finished all the buttons first, if you're following this, make sure the buttons fit through the holes properly, but finish them last).
And since I already painted and finished my buttons, I figured I ought to attach a scrap 1/4" piece of MDF onto the backs using wood glue and clamps, this way when the button is attached to the table, the buttons are raised up and pop out a bit and don't sit flush with the frames.
While my buttons were drying, I decided to attach the back/bottom panel of the table and secure using wood glue and finishing nails (this is where having a brad nailer would have come in handy!). I'm sure there are better ways to attach this, but I'm still a beginner for a woodworker. I had actually initially thought of cutting out rabbets on the side panels and on the back/bottom panel...but without a router and the skills needed to do that...I decided to pass.
The finishing nails worked out well (so far as I can tell), only problem is the heads on the finishing nails would stick out and the back/bottom panel would not be a flat surface, the little heads would be raised and drive me crazy. The solution? I took a drill bit slightly larger than the head of the finishing nail, and pre-drilled all of my holes, I didn't go all the way through, just drilled down far enough so the head of the finishing nail would drop down nicely into the wood. I used wood filler in all of the holes afterwards and sanded it down, worked like a charm!
Last step was to sand the hell out of all the sides and make everything straight and smooth.
Next step? PAINTING!!!!!
No the buttons aren't actually attached in this picture, I just placed them on the back to see how they would look :) |
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Missed my previous NES posts? Check them out here so you can keep updated on the progress!
- Building a NES Coffee Table: Part 1
- She's Beginning to Take Shape!: Part 2
- Buttons are Hard Work: Part 3
- Are We Ready to Paint Yet???: Part 4
- Painting on the Awesomeness: Part 5
- Little Legs & Final Reveal: Part 6 (final)