table-top

Harvest Table – Part one

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I dream about projects, it’s in my blood, it’s who I am.  Like many of you who have a love for old things, I cherish and value the story and the memories behind each piece.

My Dad and Cheryle have a beautiful home on Eagles Nest Lake in Ely MN.  The cabin has been getting a facelift with lots of changes to the footprint. One of the many changes includes a much larger dining area, which deserves a new harvest table.

And this is where our story begins.

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salvaged-wood

While enjoying some family time at Ava’s baptism, Dad and Cheryle told me they had talked about Dad building a harvest table for the new dining area, but decided to buy one instead.  I suggested that it would be a fun project for Dad and I to build a harvest table.  My dad has taught me a lot throughout the years about building things and how to use power tools, however we haven’t had an opportunity to work together on a project like this before.  What a great story behind the construction of the table this could be and most importantly the memories we will create while building it.   The idea of this project is special to me because I will have my Dad by my side, teaching me along the way.  Special because my Dad is a retired carpenter, (does one ever retire from this craft?) a strong headed German and fighting cancer.  So when I say it’s in my blood, this is where I get it, my love of building and being creative – not being strong headed!  Life can be all too short, so making memories like this, that will last a lifetime, are worth their weight in gold. 

The wood for this harvest table has been salvaged from the inside of an old tavern beer cooler that had been turned into a shed on the lake property. Let me tell you, taking these tongue and groove boards off the walls of this shed took a small army! Let’s just say it was well built! But we got it done, with a little help from Big Mike!

reclaimed-wood

We also needed some design and engineering work from Cheryle. These things don’t just happen over night you know! Designing is a process!

table-design

We started with this pile of salvaged wood from the shed, a semi professional design, power tools, my favorite Kreg Jig and our excitement to get this project started!

table-design-visual

Dad and I kicked Mike and Cheryle out of the garage and construction began. We built the top of the harvest table first by cutting all the pieces of salvaged tongue and groove to length and Kreg Jigging them together. Dad did all the precision cutting and I did the jigging.

dad-cutting-table

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building-the-top
tablesaw

Dad was having issues with his old table saw. It was pulling and biting the wood. I was pretty sure I was going to see him loose a finger! The German in him wouldn’t allow the saw to win and he kept fighting with it until the saw spoke louder (I might have yelled too). The piece of wood he was cutting shot right out of the saw and landed about 20 feet out into the yard.

Saw – 1, Dad – 0.

Although, his fingers were still in tact, Dad may have considered it a win after cutting 3 boards to perfection and figuring out he had the blade in backwards (this is the part of the story I wasn’t supposed to tell)!  He might have had the motor on backwards too, but I would never tell that either.  All issues aside the harvest table and memories have begun.

table-top

The harvest table is far from being finished in this picture, but I think you can see the pride if our faces (even with my eyes closed) this is going to be one beautiful table and a project full of memories that will remain in our hearts forever.

Stay tuned – I am adding some final touches to the pictures of the final project………you are going to love it and I promise, it will be worth the wait.
It’s finished! Check out the final project here.

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5 Comments

  1. I so love that you’re building this with your dad! What an amazing opportunity to spend time together. <3

  2. Love your blog! You are amazing !

  3. Thanks Connie – it’s what I love!

  4. Love love love this! Can’t wait to see it all finished!

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