How to make a street table.

This is the street magic table I made for work at Cavalier Dayes of Texas. It is based on a tray stand style of table.

The legs are made of four turned stairway spindles. These spindles are birch or maple, whatever the lumber yard has in stock. They were originally 48 inches long, but I cut them to 43 1/4 inches long, and put a bevel on the top and bottom of each leg, so that the top would sit flat on it, and the legs would sit flat on the ground. You may prefer a longer or shorter leg, to position the table at the height you like. This height will determine the length of leg you use and the angle of the bevel.

The legs have a center pivot made of a dowel screw -- this has wood screw threads on one end and metal screw threads on the other. This goes into the center of the inner leg of each pair. Once it is installed, it is backed out and epoxied in place. There is a furniture thread socket in the center of each of the outer legs. This is screwed into place through an access hole in the center of each of the outer legs. Three washers serve to space the legs apart and keep them foldable. Screw the brass sockets into place with the inner legs in place, then back them out, clean them with alcohol or lacquer thinner, screw them partway in and apply epoxy to the inside of the brass sockets. Screw them back into place quickly before the epoxy hardens. Remove excess epoxy from the wood. If you do it from the inside of the hole, there shouldn't be any leakage anyway. Cap the hole with a wooden plug.

The crossbars are 1/2 inch oak doweling. I extended the top crossbars in the back, so I could use a leather strap to hold them in position when I put the top on. I'll probably shorten them a bit.

The top is made of a piece of 3/8 inch baltic birch plywood 18 inches by 30 inches. Some people would prefer 1/4 inch, but I like the extra strength the 3/8 inch board provides. The edging is 1 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch wood lath, probably maple. This is sold in the molding section of the lumber yard. Using a table saw or a router, make a groove 1/4 inch deep in the edging to take the piece of wood for the top. Fit the frame and nail and glue everything into place. Titebond is great for this purpose. The pad is 1/2 inch polyfoam with a black velvet cover. This is glued in place with Sobo. Other glues will work as well. Give the top a good spray with Scotchgard.

Use the same material you use for the edging to make the channels that hold the top onto the crossbars. The blocks in the corners, which you can see in the picture serve to center the tops of the inner legs.

Before installing the top pad, give everything a coat of finish. Minwax spray stain works well with a coat or two of Minwax exterior grade Polyurethane.

The two cup hooks on the front are for attaching a sign. I have signs for both Hocus Pocus and Merlin. The hooks are 16 inches apart. The signs are 16 inches by 24 inches.

The sign can be used to hide things that are going on behind it, if you wish.

The photos below show how the table actually looks. Bear in mind that you are looking at 5 years of heavy usage.



Top surface of table top




Underside of top




Front view of table

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©1997 Bill Palmer. All rights reserved. For permission to republish contact Bill Palmer at the above e-mail address.