Since bringing home my large BGE two weeks ago, I knew I needed a table. I've been staging things on a plastic folding table, which means when I remove the grate or PS, I've got to put it on the ground. I have a spot on the side of my lanai (it's a Florida thing... in Maine we call them "porches") that is almost 10' from the wall of the house to the far side. It's all screened in. So, I took the NW plans and streeeeeetched them out using 8' 2x4s rather than cutting them down to 58". My table measures 94" long by around 26" deep. It's over 32" high, probably closer to 36" between the casters and the bottom 2x4s. I used fir 2x4s for the structure, and clear pine 1x4s for the top & shelf:
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Today, I went to HD for one last 2x4 to support the bottom of the table top, and grabbed some stain & spar urethane. Here's how it looks after one coat:
I hate staining. Staining is around #6 on my most hated things list, somewhere below child molesters and anything related to Justin Beiber. I finished coating the top, and then grabbed that folding chair to do the rest. That's when I had an epiphany--because I'd put the casters on already, I could stay stationary and move the table around to reach the parts I needed to stain. After that, it went smoothly... I held the stain cup with my left hand, alternated between a brush and a beer with my right hand, controlled drips with a rag around my right foot, and kicked the table around with my left foot. For about an hour, I was the Neil Peart of staining.
For those keeping track, that's two Canadian references in one post. Had I been drinking Molson, it would have been a hat trick.
Tomorrow, later on this week or next weekend, I'll decide whether I want another coat of stain or to just start applying urethane. Tonight I try my first frozen ribeyes on the BGE.
P.S. - Yes, that is a framed print of Nixon bowling in my garage. My tasteless wife won't let me put it in the house. Pffft.