Table tutorial...sort of

Ok, I'm not a master carpenter. This will become apparent.

But I had these lovely rusty iron table legs and I thought I'd make a table top.

I mean, how hard could it be?

Well, it is actually quite hard. I found a big old plank in the wood pile I keep in the garage. I think I saved it from the old pantry.
 
I measured it carefully and luckily there would be just enough wood to make a table top with 2 shorter planks side by side.

So I divided the length by two and sawed it precisely in half.

Here's what I got:

Those observant people among you might have spotted that a miscalculation had occurred. These two 'halves' are not entirely equal. It was that tricky dividing by two that tripped me up. Should have used a calculator.
(I felt kind of foolish photographing what is not my finest moment but I also felt duty bound to warn you that this can happen.)

So, I decided I didn't actually need such a large table top anyway and sawed another piece off to make them properly equal.

At this point I was getting a bit fed up so I decide not to measure anything from this point on, just do it by eye. You probably don't want to do things this way. I just wanted to steer clear of numbers.

So I turned it all upside down, placed the legs in what looked like the middle, cut some bits of pallet to fit inside and drilled and screwed them on. You need to make sure your screws are not as tall as the thickness of the pallet piece and the plank as you don't want the screw tips peeping out of the top. I did mange to get that bit right.

 Then I turned it over, holding the top on, as it's not really attached  to the legs. 

Ta daa!

We hey! I then forced my family into the garden to admire my handiwork. My husband pointed out some possible deign flaws. So naturally I pointed out that he had never made a table in his life and that this was supposed to be rustic.

I had planned on painting the top slightly and distressing it but it's a perfect match for my crate collection so I will leave it be.

So there you have it. All you need to know about table building. If you already have some legs and don't care too much what it looks like.

Think I might stick to painting...

Next up? This baby...

School fair to get through today though...

 Funky Junk 190