Starting final assembly of the base

Now the fun begins!

I have completed sanding all my components with 80 grit. I have also test fitted all my parts to make sure there are tight and flush joints. I have also prepared all the fastener holes and locations.

With all that complete, now we can start glue up and assembly. Just a reminder, gluing is more important than the mechanical fasteners! A glued joint with be stronger than a mechanical joint, so glue every joint.

Okay make sure you have your:

Tape measure

Framing square

Clamps

Glue

Damp sponge with water bucket (for cleaning up the glue squeeze out.)

Screw driver or Impact driver

All fasteners required

Now take your time and work in small assemblies. I choose to do the bottom first and then work my way up (you can do it any way you like, sides first, center first, etc..)

As you can see in the picture above, I also added sand bags to assist with holding my parts in a flat square position. Also I don't like it touching my garage floor, so it's on riser blocks too. Take your time to insure squareness and everything is in 90 degree angles. What is not pictured here is that I did use clamps to help square everything before applying the sand bags.

As you can see above, I worked my way up the table base assembling. The coffee can is my water bucket and sponge for cleaning up the glued joints.

Below is the base fully assembled. Notice the notches at the top for the extension to slide through, the seamless joints, and that all the screw holes have been plugged to make them less noticeable. I also tried to highlight what I thought were some of the best faces of the wood grain and character.

Next step was to take a wood rasp and 80 grit sand paper to round over all the spots that I couldn't get with my router. I also sanded any remaining glue spots, drips, or blemishes.

Now it's starting to look like something! Stay tuned...