- Me: well I can just build the table.
Her: hmmmm
Me: what? you don't think I can do it?
Her: I didn't say that?
Me: I just need to know how long you want it, what color any particular style
Her: ..........
Me: You still on building the table aren't you?
Her: well ...
That night while lying in bed it occurred to me why not look at some some cast iron table legs? I woke the next day and started searching for cast iron legs. I ran across some nice antique 1885 Singer Sewing Machine legs. Perfect!!! So I ordered the legs ($85) from EBay with free shipping and they were delivered in about three days.
Okay so it has been a few decades since I had to fashion a table from two pieces of wood, but thank God my dad who was a shop teacher taught me well during my childhood. Thanks pops!!! Anyway, the choice of wood is poplar. I went to a local building discount store and picked up two planks of poplar at $6.00 a piece. When building a table and selecting wood you must make sure that they are straight or have very little curves. After about 1.2 hours of going through the lumber they had I found two that have very little warp to them. Since dealing with natural growing materials they will not be completely straight/level that's why they make planers. However, I don't own one of these machines - hence the time at the store, but I digress.
The wood came in 8'x8"x1.5" planks - not necessarily wide enough for a table so I had to combine two boards to get the size I wanted. Joining two pieces of wood together is not a hard thing to accomplish here are the items you will need:
- Biscuits
- Saw Horse
- Sander
- Router / jigsaw
- Wood glue
- Clamps
- Rubber mallet
- Drill
You don't really need the biscuits or a biscuit joining too. Instead take a 1/4 dowel or 5/16 dowel and cut it into 4 inch sections. Measure and mark the holes for the dowels to be inset into the board. Measure and wrap a piece of tape at the two inch mark on the bit this will ensure you have the appropriate depth needed. Please make sure the drill bit is the same diameter of the dowel or you will have trouble inserting the dowel. Fill each of the holes with wood glue and tap the dowel into place until it stops (2 inches) with the mallet repeat for each hole. Once you have the holes and pegs (biscuits) in place you will need to drill matching holes in the second material that you want to join.
Tip: to make the correct placement of the holes, place each board on a flat surface, using a daub of paint on the end of each dowel, push the two pieces together - causing the paint to transfer from the dowel to the second board.
On the second piece of material drill the matching holes also at a depth of two inches. Remove any excess dust or debris from the holes and fill with wood glue. Run a bead of wood glue along the edge of both pieces of wood this will ensure it is held together securely. Squeeze the boards togethers tightly and clamp together. I do not recommend the clamps with triggers as they cannot give the amount of pressure needed to bond the two pieces of wood. The excess glue will be forced out of the seams. Immediately wipe off any excess glue with a damp cloth. After 24 - 48 hours hours the table top can be unclamped and prepared for sanding. 
If you want to get creative or add a decorative edge or flare to your table, you can use a router or simply draw our the design and cut it out using a jigsaw. Using a palm sander or a belt sander with 250 - 600 grain sandpaper sand all sides of the table. The higher the number in sandpaper the smoother the surface, lower number sand paper used to remove material. The next step is to make what they call cleats, these are actually braces that spand across the underside of the table to provide strength and support. You can make these cleats out of scrap wood, but they should be equal in size and length. The two end cleats will act as leg supports. After a couple of passes with the sander and wiping off the table it is ready for a couple coats of stain. But not so fast young whipper snapper.. I still have to set the spacing for the legs. This is where the cleats come in to play.
There are three cleats on this table, one on each end and one in the middle. The two end cleats are placed nine inches from the ends of the table for the leg placement. The top of the cast iron legs have two bolt holes from the original sewing table so there was no need to try and fabricate them. However, I had to bore out the bolt holes in the cleats. To do this, simply place the cleat on top of the table leg and using a Sharpie, mark or color in the hole position on the cleat. Bore out the hole and make a counter sink so that the head of the bolt is even with the surface of the cleat. The bolt should fit snuggly if done right. 
Flip the table top upside down and mark the positions of the cleats, for this the edge of the cleat is nine inches from each edge of the table. Insert the bolts (screws) if not already done run a bead of glue the length of the cleat on the underside table and also on the cleat and fasten with three 1-1/4 inch screws. Repeat for the next leg and middle cleat. Once the cleats are set and the glue has dried the legs can be attached using washers and nuts. Remember to do a test fitting to determine the bolt length. The bolts I used are hex bolts because I wanted to make the bolt flat inside the cleat and to have it anchored inside the cleat.
After determining the placement of the cleats and table legs, the table needs to be braced. The legs are not not strong enough on their own to prevent the table from wobbling. These Singer Sewing legs come with pre-drilled holes. two on the left and right and on bottom center. These are great places to add bracing in order to add stability to the table. You will need to find a place that can fabricate two metal rods with screw ends. Luckily for me the place I chose (Brownsville Welding) did an awesome job. I went to them on a Friday even though they were closed the owner met with me and took the material and by Wednesday I had my support bars.Viola the table is complete.
