So, we’re on to the project of the entryway/hallway table we saw and liked on Instagram. If you haven’t already seen the project overview, take a look here. We cover where we saw it and some things you’ll need to address if you want to take on this build. In short, you have to adjust to the realities of using construction-grade lumber in a furniture project.

Selecting lumber for the table

This project is made from inexpensive construction-grade lumber from Home Depot. The different dimensions mean the source of the wood for the top, legs, and brace will come from different ages and sizes of trees. Typically, this means the 2×6 lumber will look very different than the 2×12 lumber. If you have a table saw and can rip the wood, I’d go with all one-size (2×12)rough lumber and mill it to size.

Supplies needed to build the table

Minimally, here are the lumber, tools, and fasteners you should have for the given instructions.

• Circular Power Saw
• Drill, Drill bit (diameter size for the wood screws you use)
• 2.5″ wood screws (8+)
• Screwdriver
• Sandpaper & sanding block
  • 80 grit, 120 grit, 220 grit (you can go higher if you want)
• Power sander(optional, but helpful): belt or orbital
• Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner
• Stain, brush/rags
• Wood:
  • Top: 2″x12″ by 6′ 2″ long.
  • Legs 2″x”8″ by 39 1/2″ long.
  • Brace 2″x 6″ by 41″ long.

In addition, we used a miter saw, chisel, mallet, glue, and dowels. I’ll explain later.

All angles are cut at 28 degrees

Prepping the wood

If you are lucky enough to have an electric planer or are skilled enough with a hand plane, you can get a relatively smooth service in short order. Most people do not have either. So, be prepared to sand.

The lower the grit number, the rougher the sandpaper is. To start, you’ll have a fair amount of wood to remove, so start with a low number (rough) grit sandpaper. I used 80 to start.

Once you see that the 80 grit no longer changes the feel of the wood, move up to 120. Then, go to 220.

Between each grit, remove the sawdust from the prior grit. You may even want to just clear as you are sanding. Leaving the sawdust introduces a rougher abrasive to the higher grit, reducing its effectiveness.

The sanding started with a belt sander to get the “big” stuff, then an orbital sander and finally sanding by hand.

Why you should care about sanding.

Sanding accomplishes a few things. 1) Rough lumber is uneven naturally as well as marred during transport. Sanding evens the surface, which makes it feel nicer to the touch. 2) Unsanded lumber accepts stains unevenly. Starting with construction-grade softwood already lowers the ability to stain the pieces evenly. Not sanding them will compound the problem.

Cutting Pieces For Entry Table

The top is a simple cut-to-length at six feet two inches. The other three parts need to be cut at a 28 degree angle on each end.

The legs are two parallelograms cut to 39.5 inches in length. The piece is a trapezoid, 41 inches long at the longest side. Below are the cut patterns for the pieces

• Top: 2″x12″ by 6′ 2″ long.
• Legs 2″x”8″ by 39 1/2″ long.
• Brace 2″x 6″ by 41″ long (with no tenon).

Assembling the Table

Following the instructions on Instagram, you would simply screw the parts together. And, if you want just to fish this off, you can do that. But I wouldn’t… I didn’t.

As mentioned in the intro article to this project, I am not confident that screws will hold the joints for long. The weight of the lumber is enough to put a lot of tension on the joints. The torque will put even more pressure on the joints if you move it. Screws in the end grain don’t have much grip. Given the weight and pressure on this piece, I think the screws will soon come loose.

At the very least, use good wood glue on the joints. I still don’t think this is great, but it is better than just using screws.

Mortise & Tenon

To make the brace-to-leg joint stronger, I used mortise & tenon joinery. If you are not familiar with this type of joint, you can see it here. I didn’t use power tools. Instead, I used a mallet and chisel. You can get an idea of how this is done in this Paul Sellers youtube Video. The difference is that I didn’t do a through-tenon, and I had a shoulder all the way around the tenon.

The tenon was just about 1 inch deep into the mortise, about 1 inch wide, and 4.5 inches long. If you do a mortise and tenon join, the brace should be between 42.5-43 inches long, leaving room for the tenons on either end.

For the top, I didn’t screw it on. Instead, I used snug-fitting dowels. The piece is fairly big and heavy. Keeping the top and base unattached made moving it around easier. Using dowels underneath also avoided dealing with exposed screws on the top.

Applying a Finish to the Table

One problem with softwoods is the grain density variation; it impacts how the stain is absorbed. It leads to very different colors on the same board. You can mitigate this with a pre-stain wood conditioner.

What you might run into with the construction-grade lumber and no joiner or planer

This hallway table is a simple project that takes some time. If you are not too worried about how the stain is taken up, you can shave some time off the project by doing less sanding. Depending on your decor, the imperfections of the construction-grade lumber may be just what you are looking for.