Hoffman Woodworks

Moving into our new house we realized that we had more room. More room for stuff that grownups have. I also had a large enough garage to build stuff in. We had a larger living room, with a fireplace and room for stuff, like a coffee table. We went to a few local stores and everything we kind of liked was "close" but way too overpriced. All the designs were missing something, I new I wanted to build ours. I just found myself "uninspred" in coming up with a design.

Until I found this Instructable  http://www.instructables.com/id/Fireplace-Coffee-Table/

I had also picked up some amazing lumber from an estate sale. 

It was "On"..

I found the burner that I wanted to use from ModaFlame http://www.modaflame.com/Ethanol-Burners_c_16.html

Basically the table is based around the burner, and the tones from the cottonwood lumber. I wanted the entire table to have an industrial/rustic type feel..without being too country. 

I was unsure how hot the burner would actually get, but I new that I wanted a buffer to protect the wood. While browsing the local Lowes I found some really neat tile to inlay an protect the wood. It had the texture and look of walnut. PERFECT!

I prepped all the lumber, cut the tile and began assembly. I used pocket screws and wood glue to join the table top. When it was finished I realized that the wood top didnt have the stability I wanted. The main factors being the cottonwood is relatively soft lumber and I had to plane the boards down thinner than what I planned, to get rid of the resaw marks. I picked up a piece of 3/4" MDF and mounted it to the bottom side of the table. I was able to cover it up with Walnut edge boards which also tied the whole table together. I really didnt forsee needing this but the flatness, heft and structural stability of the MDF was a definite bonus.

Inlayed the tile with the router and a template that I made that would fit the tiles and burner. This was the scariest part due to the obvious risk of screwing the whole top up and also hitting a few pocket screws that just happen to be misplaced. 2- $28 straight cut router bits later, the tiles fit perfectly.

This cottonwood lumber is awesome, with the many colors and dark knots. But the biggest problem with the cottonwood, is that it stinks,terrible. It smells like dog pee. Really bad. Like one of those wrotten stenches that never leaves your clothes, your shop, or your clothing.

Since I didnt want our entire house to smell like a dog park, I put 3 coats of Minwax sanding sealer on it. After the sanding sealer had a few days to cure I sanded the entire surface down with 300 grit and added 5 coats of Minwax wipe on polyurethane in a glossy finish. 

I went for the black pipe base becuse it is sturdy, easy and trendy. Gave the pipes a coat of flat black enamel, then attched it to the top.

The ethanol burner puts out very little heat, but the ambiance of a blue flame in the middle of your livingroom coming out af a gorgeous table cant be matched. It puts out about a 6" flame for 45 minutes to an hour. The metal of the burner does stays very hot for at least an hour after the flame has gone out.

The final product is perfect, one-of-a-kind piece. We have really enjoyed it, cant imagine our livingroom without it.

As my first real project, this was the “powder-keg” that lit my passion for creating things out of wood. I mean I have to believe that every woodworker (hoping that I qualify as one…) has that one project that gives them that “itch” that propels them down the path of woodworking. This is mine.

This whole project came about because we had recently moved, I had acquired some tools, and for the first time I had room for a shop. With a little bit of shop-work, I was ready to build something. I wanted to make a coffee table, but figured I would start small. Em suggests, “what if you made something for your sister her baby is due in October. She would like that”.

So I began looking at “easy” things to build. But wasn’t inspired by anything I came across. I did keep coming across changing tables with storage underneath. Then I found the one. I ended up picking a design from Canadian Home Workshop. It seemed simple enough to build. It’s basically just a box, with a door. I can do that; the plan makes it seem simple enough. I liked the design because it had long term use as a small dresser once the changing table was no longer needed.

http://canadianhomeworkshop.com/8240/project-plans/time-for-change-baby-change-table#projecttabs

And so it started.

Before I even touched a board, I redrew it in Adobe Illustrator, I wanted to “see” how things were going to mesh together. After making a few tweaks I came up with a stylish more useful design. My design would have the basic cabinet, with a flat top for the changing pad. Instead of a cabinet door with shelves I decided to make 4 drawers on the right and two moveable shelves, with shelf pins, on the left. I liked the look that the open shelves had on the overall piece, plus it the design from CHW had woven baskets, which I thought was a nice touch.

Overall this project was very rewarding and it came out better than anyone imagined. Even I couldn’t believe that I built something of that kind of quality. The oak and gorgeous black walnut inlays just topped it all off. The tears and the look on my sister’s face when we delivered it to her were priceless. She couldn’t believe that had made it.