Some table pics, and a couple of tips

[nolanfan34]

I've mentioned in the past that I'd be posting some new table pics soon. Build this one as a gift for a friend:



The color looks a little funny with the flash, but the table fabric is a dark, gunmetal gray. Finding that color was very difficult.

The rail is built from scratch, with the assistance of a friend of mine who does truck upholstery for a living. It just turned out incredibly well. Hardly a bump in it all the way around. One tip if you're using vinyl material for the rail, is to heat it in some way. He used a heat gun to keep the material pliable, especially around the corners. This helped it to stretch without bunching up as much. He said putting the vinyl in the dryer for a while would also help it be more pliable.

Here's a close-up of the logo on the center of the table:



My friend's brother designed the lable. The material itself is a rubbery iron-on material from a local sign shop. It's not silk-screened per se, but actually ironed on. The cards slide across it just fine - I was worried the rubbery feel to the logo might cause sticking but it wasn't a problem last night when we used the table for the first time.

A close up of the rail and racehorse track:



The most frustrating part of the project was staining and clearcoating the racetrack. One tip - don't do this in the winter in places where the temp is colder. When the label on a can of stain or clear coat says 70 degrees is recommended, they aren't kidding. The stain took a long time to dry, and the clearcoat had problems with streaks. It looks OK, but we'll probably re-finish it in the spring.