cooking with nuts
Taking 4 of the lengths for the box sections, nail them together using brad nails. You can apply some glue to the joints to give extra strength if you like but it’ s not strictly necessary. When joining the box sections make sure to overlap the ends. That way the boxes end up square.
Next you can start nailing the slats on. If you have boards that are of uniform width you will probably end up with an overhang. Lay the boards out on the top of the box before nailing them down and you’ ll be able to even out the overhang and then cut the edge boards using a jigsaw. Now you can go ahead and nail the slats on.
You should now have 2 box sections with slatted tops. Now it’ s on to the legs.
Taking 2 of the leg sections at a time, nail one to the other by overlapping one edge. Repeat for the other 3 legs. Alternatively you can nail the legs on as separate pieces. It is entirely up to you.
Start by fitting one leg on to one of the boxes with brad nails and then repeat for the other 3 legs. Once you have the top box fitted you can then nail the second box on underneath this to give you a double shelf table.
Carefully pry off the top boards from main beams
Or cut the top boards at the join with the beams
To finish my table I took some dowel and cut some short lengths off. Then using a wood bit of the same diameter I drilled some shallow holes at all the joints and glued in the short sections of dowel. This does nothing for the structure of the joint, it is purely for decorative purposes.
Finally I gave the table a coat or two of wood stain. Strictly speaking, this is not completely needed as most pallet wood is treated so you could leave it but I think it looks better with a finish on it.
The table is now done and ready for use when( and if!) the sun shines!
Nail the box sections together with brad nails.
Nail on the slats to the box section, one at each end
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