Working with wood

Last year I made a console table as a birthday present for my wife. It was a big project for me. I learned that a console table is a table that goes against a wall and is used for decorative items. After multiple hours of designing in Google Sketchup I created a 3D model as my blueprint. I designed what I thought would be a sturdy table.

With lumber and screws purchased from my local hardware store I was ready to start. My tools were basic; a drill, measuring tape, pencil, and a circular saw. Over the next few weeks I spent many hours in our office basement building this table, I learned a lot about wood working. Some things I took away from this project:

• Quality takes timeI wanted to build something that would last. After researching methods of building with wood I went with the best options available to me.
• Measure twice, cut onceWith rare exception I measured every cut at least two times. I figured spending more time measuring meant less mistakes when it came time to cutting the wood.
• ImproviseTo the best of my knowledge I designed a model that was perfect. However there were still a few snags that came up. I had to make creative changes as I went along to improve the strength of the table.

Working with wood can be quite enjoyable! I found it to be another form of expressing design. A good 35 hours were spent in modeling and designing the table. While it may not have been the best use of my time financially speaking, it made a unique gift for my wife and the hours spent working on it were peaceful and enjoyable.