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00:05 Speaker 1: G'day knuckleheads, Uncle Knackers here.
How's this?
About eight years ago, on eBay, I bought a set of bedside tables.
Now, they looked and sounded pretty good, but when they turned up they were absolute
rubbish.
I must've had sucker written all over my face, because I got absolutely fleeced.
Check them out.
And this is one of them.
This is supposed to be solid timber.
Perhaps they should have said, "Cheap vinyl over chip board."
The fronts keep popping off, and the bottoms keep dropping in, they're just plain rubbish.
I should've sent them back.
Oh well, lesson learned.
00:51 S1: So, I've been instructed from she who must be obeyed, to make a set of very
simple bedside tables.
No drawers, just clean straight lines.
And I think I heard or read somewhere that, "Simplicity is the height of sophistication,"
I like it.
Now, the first thing that I did was draw a life-sized version of the bedside table, and
the beauty of doing that is that you can get your bevel and place it on the drawing to
work out your angles, which you can then transfer to your drop saw, that makes it very easy.
Now, the height of my bedside table is 530 millimetres, which is 20 and three-quarter
inches.
The width is 400 millimetres, which is 15 and three-quarter inches.
And the angles, we have a 16-and-a-half degree angle for the top of the leg.
We have a 15-degree bevel for the front and the back of the bedside table.
And the bottom of the leg, I've got a 19-and-a-half degree angle.
01:53 S1: And, of course, all of that will change depending on the width and the height
of your bedside table.
So, to get this show on the road, we need to cut the legs to length, and also give them
a bit of a taper at the same time, and I am using pallet wood for the entire job.
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02:20 S1: So, here's our legs all nicely cut.
Now, just in regard to the angles and had to find them.
Remember earlier, we got our bevel, and we placed it up against our drawing.
Now to transfer of that to the drop saw, all you need to do is to place it hard up against
the fence, just like that.
And the objective is to get this line here, which represents the blade, to line up with
the edge of the bevel.
And to do that, you just simply move the drop saw base.
So, if we do that and we bring it across until both lines line up, lock it off.
And that's our angle, which incidentally is 16-and-a-half degrees.
Too easy.
So, this is how I want the legs to look, just like that.
So, far so good.
03:18 S1: Now, all we need to do is cut another set for the other side and then we'll tackle
the sides, the ends and the top, too easy.
Next we want to build the sides and the front of our table, and to do that, I'm just going
to nail one of these pallet boards slats onto a pallet stretcher, keeping one edge nice
and flush.
And you should be able to get two sides out of the one slat.
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03:54 S1: Now, using your diagram, measure to the top of the stretcher, which is there,
that's the overall height, that's the top of the stretcher.
So, measure from that long point to that long point and then cut a 15 degree angle on both
ends.
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04:17 S1: So, all the sides are now cut and you might notice how the slat is a bit wider
than the stretcher.
Don't worry about that, it's not important.
But what I want to do next, before I assemble everything is mark out on this side where
the legs are going to go.
I want the legs to finish flush, so I need to cut these sections out.
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04:51 S1: And there you have it.
So, this is how the legs are going to look inside this housing, just like that.
Now, we also need to cut a rebate on the tops of these legs, so that they finish up nice
and flush with this surface.
And I've also left a gap around all these edges, just a small gap, because I think it
adds to to that rustic look.
Now, when rebating the leg we need to keep that thickness on the leg, and remove the
rest.
Let's do that.
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05:49 S1: Beautiful!
Let's see how it fits.
05:55 S1: Oh, yeah.
That looks nice.
I told you it wasn't hard.
06:05 S1: Beautiful!
Now, to attach the legs, all you need to do is simply drill two holes in each leg to accommodate
a bolt.
And I am pre-drilling with a smaller drill bit first, because this old pallet wood tends
to split, especially on the ends.
So, you just gotta be a little bit careful.
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07:11 S1: And here's the side of the table all done, and I think it looks pretty good.
Now all we need to do is to attach the front and then nail down the top.
And you may have noticed, how I've painted these bolts yellow.
I am going through a bit of a yellow craze at the moment.
And a really easy and mess free way of painting all those bolts at the one time, is to drill
some holes into a piece of wood.
Placing in the bolts and then give them all a bit of a spray, it works like a charm.
07:41 S1: Now, to attach the front to the side of the table, just simply position it
so that it's nice and flush on the side and flush on the top.
And you'll notice how I've cut an angle on the top and the bottom of this front board,
which matches that angle there.
That's so that when the top gets nailed down, that's going to sit nice and flat.
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08:34 S1: And for the top of the side table I am just going to biscuit join three pallet
wood slats together.
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[pause]
09:17 S1: Okay, let's see how this thing turned out.
It'll be heavy.
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09:34 S1: Oh, yeah.
I like it.
Looks good.
And now what we need to do is to glue and nail the top down.
And you might have noticed that I've added a brace across the center here.
That's just for a bit of added support.
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10:09 S1: So, there it is, all done.
Now, all we need to do is to give it a good old sand and then finish it off with a couple
of coats of clear satin varnish.
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10:26 S1: So, here they both are, all nicely sanded, and they feel absolutely fantastic.
Now, all we need to do is apply couple of coats of clear satin varnish over the entire
lot.
Now, I am just a little bit concerned because I really like this light coloured finish and
I know that whenever you apply a varnish or an oil it goes a little bit darker.
So, I am just a little bit worried about that.
Oh well, let's just give it a crack, and see how it turns out.
[background noise]
11:11 S1: And here are the finished side tables.
What do you reckon?
Personally, I absolutely love them.
Great tip knackers, and don't go just yet because there'll be a few photos going backwards
and forwards on the finished product.
11:30 S1: Now, just a bit of quick housekeeping, if you haven't subscribed to my channel, the
button is just about there.
Click on that, and become part of the DIY For Knuckleheads community.
And while on that theme, check out my Facebook page at DIY For Knuckleheads, it's a ripper.
The link is in the description box below.
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11:52 S1: That would be the kettle.
Must be time for a cup of tea.
So, till next time, I am out of here.
Cheers.
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