Railway sleeper coffee table

**Risky Goat** · 29th July 2010, 04:35 AM

Hi everyone,
I've just moved over from the welcome section and found the BIG section, which looks like the one for me. I've attached some pictures of the Jarrah sleeper table that I'm making. There is going to be a sleeper along each side horizontally for the legs.
I went through a few designs before settling for this one. I looked like the easiest to build and I'm a bit short of tools.
I'm about to encounter a problem attaching the legs as the bottoms of the tabletop sleepers are rough, I want to leave them like that along with the sides to contrast the finished surfaces. But this means that they are not going to be at uniform heights. Any ideas?
Also, does anyone have any ideas about how to clean the rough wood without changing the appearence too much. After years of being run over by trains they are filthy and I don't want them dropping dirt over whichever carpet they end up on.
Cheers all.

Oh, and just incase you're wondering what the 9x9 gate posts beneath are going to be, it's a kingsized bed

**orraloon** · 29th July 2010, 06:49 AM

Hi Risky Goat,
Welcome to the house of fun.
Well that is a substantial table. As to joining the top I would use wood pins about 1'' to locate top to base. Glue should not be required as the weight of it will hold things in place. Think of the cap stones on stonehenge. A pressure jet water cleaner should clean up the rough surfaces.
Regards
John

**Harry72** · 29th July 2010, 07:49 AM

Thats going to hurt if you stub your toe on it

**Risky Goat** · 29th July 2010, 07:53 AM

Originally Posted by orraloon

Hi Risky Goat,
Welcome to the house of fun.
Well that is a substantial table. As to joining the top I would use wood pins about 1'' to locate top to base. Glue should not be required as the weight of it will hold things in place. Think of the cap stones on stonehenge. A pressure jet water cleaner should clean up the rough surfaces.
Regards
John

Thanks John,
I was going to put coach bolts up through the base from the bottom, the real problem that I have is weather to cut in to the top of the base or the bottom of the top pieces to get it all level. I should think that either way it will need some careful measuring as it has to be exact to hold the glass.
I had thought about a jet cleaner for cleaning but didn't know if it would damage the wood, should I do this before I continue finishing the top?
Appreciate your advice, thanks.
Kieren

**Risky Goat** · 29th July 2010, 07:55 AM

Originally Posted by Harry72

Thats going to hurt if you stub your toe on it

I doubt it would feel a thing

**Manuka Jock** · 29th July 2010, 08:23 AM

Kieren ,
You could level up the timbers with joints like these ,

That way the discrepancies in individual thickness etc will be minimized . And the pegs could still be dropped thru the joins , in place of the screws in the sketch.

I don't think that water blasting will damage the timber , all that will be blown out is the dirt and any punky wood

**artme** · 29th July 2010, 08:47 AM

That is going to be some table Kieren!!

MJ's idea of leveling is a good one but you might look at using wedges to achieve the same result. A lot simpler to do.

Don't think there's a commercial water blaster that has been built yet that could damage Jarrah.

**Carry Pine** · 29th July 2010, 09:18 AM

My suggestion for cleaning the sleepers up would be to get hold of a decent sized belt sander and use No. 40 belts. This has worked wonders on 6 levels of paint for me. Anything you use with a blade is going to get wrecked. Remember that the sleepers have grease, oil and stones embedded in them.

Graham

**wheelinround** · 29th July 2010, 10:36 AM

One back breaker table on its way, every time the misses wants it moved

One of those things weigh a ton on their own.

**notenoughtoys** · 29th July 2010, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by wheelinround

One back breaker table on its way, every time the misses wants it moved

One of those things weigh a ton on their own.

A mate of mine makes furniture for beer gardens out of them for exactly that reason, the punters can't knock em off (mind you they still have a good go at it)

**Risky Goat** · 29th July 2010, 05:00 PM

Thanks everyone,
This is what I had in mind for the base, obviously as it is wuite heavy I want to make sure that if it is moved it is going to stay square. And then I was going to try and level it by measuring down from the top surface of the top pieces and putting a groove along the bottom of each one, only of about 10mm or so but just so that is all stays in the right place.

Only problem is that I don't know how true the tops are as I have had to do the whole lot with a planer so I'm expecting a bit of messing around.

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