July 2022

I Let My Instagram Pick What I Build From This Old Table!

The boys and I found an old junked table in our trash the other day and instead of leaving it where it belongs, we decided to turn it into our latest project! Not only that, but we also let our followers on Instagram pick how we transform it. Check out the full video on Youtube to see the whole selection process and final results. I promise yinz, this is one for the books!

How We Transformed a Junk Table into a New Shop Stool

It wasn’t easy, but I turned a table that would have otherwise ended up in a junkyard into a functional shop stool

John Malecki video screenshot — Super detailed sketch of the final product.

After we fished the table out of the trash, I got started by taking the table apart. Even though it seemed like it was totally trashed, we managed to salvage most of the wood for our new project.

For a little bit of direction—and a little bit of chaos—I asked our Instagram followers to suggest what we should build-out of the salvaged wood. I got a lot of great responses and ended up settling on building a shop stool. To add a bit of a twist and make sure things get squirrely, I decided to tackle a few things that I’ve never done before. The biggest new challenge was getting the bent lamination just right for the seat and back of the stool—but we’ll get to that a little later.

As I stripped down the old table, I discovered that the table was actually nearly 100 years old and was built as a high school shop project. Just goes to show ya that good woodworking stands the test of time.

Then, I started cutting the wood into small pieces to get ready for the bent laminate chair backing but ran into some problems—check out the video to see what happened. As always, the show must go on, so we came back the next day and checked out the final product for the bent laminate backing. It turned out better than expected! Once the backing was ready to go, I started getting the legs' shapes and base in order. As one of the last steps before final assembly, I did another round of bent lamination for the seat and back and it turned out to be, well, ergonomic—let’s just say that. To see what the final assembly looks like, watch the full video on my Youtube channel.

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Tools & Materials Used

Check out the materials and tools we used to turn this old table into a brand new stool

Even though this is one of our smaller projects, I still used a lot of different woodworking methods to turn this old warped table into a stool. I did use a lot of the machinery we use regularly in the Dream Shop, but this project is one that can also be completed with a home garage workshop setup. I started by taking apart the table with a flathead screwdriver. Then, I used the table saw to cut the salvaged wood into smaller, thinner pieces. For this process, we STRONGLY recommend buying a saw stop—even the pros make mistakes! Luckily we have all the materials we need in the Dream Shop thanks to Woodcraft, one of our partners that has helped outfit the Dream Shop.

When the bent laminate came out looking a bit weaker than I anticipated, I used TotalBoat High-Performance Epoxy Resin to strengthen the chair backing and fill in any of the remaining holes. Once the back looked and felt strong enough, I used a helical head to finish off bent lam stool backing. For the final step, I used a Kutzall ball-shaped die grinder to fit the seat of the chair. All that was left at the end was to test out the brand new shop stool! Yinz have to check out the full video to see how it holds up!