How to create a rustic pine table

Like all of the other DIY Junkies out there, my Sunday mornings are usually spent watching home improvement channels looking for inspiration.  Lately I’ve been seeing a surprising number of shows using blowtorches to “burn” simple pine boards.  It makes ordinary, inexpensive pine look rustic, antique, reclaimed, vintage, OLD.  Super cool.

I had an old antique sewing machine base that had been sitting around waiting to be dealt with.  It was missing bolts and wasn’t very sturdy, so I had pretended I didn’t see it for several weeks before genius hit.  I decided, instead of keeping it the original size, I would disassemble it and just use the cool pot metal legs.

I purchased a 10″ x 8′ board from Home Depot and had one of the team members cut it in half for me (not that I don’t have the tools to do it, but he was standing there, so…..).  With the help of my engineer husband, we bought an assortment of bolts, nuts, and threaded rod to create the supports and connections needed to basically BUILD a table.

First things first, the pine board(s) needed to be routed on the edges.  This would give the edges a nice rounded finish instead of the factory cut.  All four edges on the top side were run through the router.

The next step took us outside where we couldn’t burn the house down (yes, we did this at home.  In the basement.  On Christmas Eve.  Hardcore crafter here).

Using a blow torch and a somewhat steady hand, I slowly started to burn the wood grain.

It took some getting used to and wasn’t something that could be rushed.  I had to get into a groove with the torch, because I didn’t  want to char the wood, just singe it a bit so the different grains would change colors.  It was very easy to accidentally hold the torch over an area too long and get dark spots here and there.  It took a while to go back and even those areas out.  I didn’t want it to look splotchy.

This part took awhile and my fingers were numb by the time I finished, but surprisingly, it was therapeutic.

The next step was to attach the threaded rod to the table legs to create extra support on the bottom.

Luckily there were already holes in the table legs from where it was originally put together.  We just used the same holes and made it work.  Using a simple can of black spray paint, I went over the silver rod, bolts, and washers so they blended in.

Tip: use aluminum foil when spray painting oddly shaped objects.  It is easier than tape and will really protect.

I won’t bore you with the rest of the steps, mainly because it was a lot of calculating, measuring, arguing, and more measuring, to get the pine boards attached to the legs.  But also because I didn’t take any pictures!

I will tell you that once we attached the boards and flipped the whole thing upright, we realized the threaded rod wasn’t enough support to keep the long table from wobbling.  After some more configuring, we decided to add angle braces underneath – now it’s nice and sturdy!

I know I’m biased, but it is a really cool table!  I see it being used as a sofa table, in a hallway, in a foyer, anywhere!

***THIS ITEM IS AVAILABLE FOR SALE*** please email me at jessica@jparisdesigns.com with any further questions