The Daily Make #68 | 9th January 2025
Cherry & Resin Table Build (An early table build from a few years ago)
I was given this piece of cherry wood, it would become a coffee table and subsequent wedding present. It was to big to fit in the thicknesser so step 2 (step one was it drying out after being in a friends garden for months) was to build a sled to use with the Hand Router.
While I had seen the sleds in action before (online) I had not had a chance to see how it was made. Sketching out what I thought would work with what materials I had to hand. After a few mistakes, like not having enough support for the router to be held in place, it was ready for testing. Which led to the finding the next mistake, which was not having made the sides high enough to fit over the wood. I had leftover pieces of 2 x 4 which when laid on the wider side added just enough height.
It took a while (under an hour) to get the hang of using the sled. At first it was difficult, as I often fell back in the bad habit of pushing the router harder and faster, rather than slowly and carefully and letting the router do its work. This was also when I brought over a second extraction hose and the industrial vacuum as there was a lot of debris. Flipping the wood over and having a flat - ish surface to place on the bench was quite satisfying.
After getting both sides fairly flat, the edge, which still retained its bark was sanded down to remove the roughest areas and bits of bark the protruded or where sharp.
Its time to pour resin into the cracks and a small hole where a wood knot came loose. I prefer the knots to stay as they look really cool, but this one was too shallow to stay in place after the routing and sanding.
Pouring the resin took time as cracks in the wood were narrow enough that it took some time to seep into. I used a scraper, moving the resin back and forth, evening it out and then scrape off the residual. Once dried, the wood was sanded again.
Starting with 120 git, going up to 600. Wax and linseed oil was used. After a coat of oil has dried a very light sand with 1000 grain, wiped down with a damp clothe another coat is added. Once the wood was completed, the legs were added.
And this I thought was the end. The table was complete. Cherry & Resin Table Repair will show how it became not complete and the repairs.
The Daily Make
Jonathan Woolf