Build a Tiled Table Part 3: Sand, Finish, and Install the Tile
George VondriskaDescription
In the final installation of our three-part series on building a tiled sofa table, George vondriska teaches you how to sand and finish the wooden carcass of the table and then install the tile into the frame that you created in the second step. He demonstrates the proper technique for using a handheld sander to remove any milling marks or pencil lines, CA glue and sawdust to fill cracks leftover from your mitering, and hot glue to affix the tile top to the table. And tada, you have a handsome table to set your cups and bottles on without the need for a coaster.
Titebond Original Wood Glue and HiPURformer Adhesive Applicator provided by Titebond. For more information, visit www.titebond.com.
More Videos from Titebond:
Part 1: Build a Tiled Table – Rail and Leg Assembly
Part 2: Build a Tiled Table – Frame the Tile
How To Install Crown Molding on Cabinets
How to build a Birdhouse
Adding Accents to Outdoor Products
Calculating Wood Dimensions for Outside Corners
Super Finishing for Turning
Adhere Ceramic Tile to Wood
Create a Crackle Finish on Wood
Our little sofa table is really coming along. I've got the leg and rail assembly here. The frame that's gonna surround our tile top is in a clamp and drying over on another table. So while that's drying, I'm gonna start my sanding process here. So where we're at on this is we've got to sand this, completely seal it before the tile can go in from the top. In that sanding process, I want to make sure I get off any remaining pencil lines, any milling marks that are left over. So make sure you do a good job on the sanding and the staining and the finishing. if you're gonna choose to stain it, and we'll be ready to install that tile in no time at all. As I was sanding the frame, one of the things I noticed is that this miter on this corner has got a little bit of an opening to it out here. So that's okay 'cause it provides me a great opportunity to show you how you can fix this if anything like this happens to you. So I use this approach a lot when I get these tiny, tiny little gaps that I want to make go away. The answer is in yellow glue. And what we're gonna do is get a little bit of yellow glue to go down into that joint. I want to leave it so that I don't have a lot of glue on the surface. Now the key is moving quickly 'cause while that glue is still wet we're gonna come with the sanding block. I've got 120 grit sandpaper on the block. And what's happening is the glue is wet, I'm sanding, which oddly enough creates sawdust. And the sawdust is going right down into the glue that I left in that opening and filling it in and making it invisible. And it looks like I did a perfect miter right from the start. So as you're working through the sanding on your project, if you run into a problem like this, great tip to remember, filling it with yellow glue, sand over the wet glue, and it's gonna close it right up. I'm gonna do some more sanding on this, get some finish on them, then we'll be ready for some assembly on our table. A couple of things happened while you weren't looking. I fastened the bottom into the frame. So that's piece of quarter inch MDF. It's secured up into the rabbit from underneath. Then I put the whole top upside down on a bench and I centered the leg and rail assembly on the bottom of the top and put screws through those screw pockets in here. So everything is secure. We're ready to tile our table. Now we can't just set the tile in there 'cause then it's gonna be loose. We need a way to secure it. The answer for this is gonna be a hot melt glue but it's not just any hot melt glue. It's hot melt glue that's also a polyurethane glue. So we'll get a few dabs of that on the bottom, seat the tile into those hot dabs, we're gonna be good to go. If we hit the corners, we're gonna be just fine. Of course, you know, it is hot glue, so don't dilly or dally 'cause we don't want it to start to grab or harden before our tile is in place. And I did do a, remember we've done a couple of test fits to make sure the tile is gonna go in there. So we're fine that way. And then I got a little bit of time to just make sure it's centered within the frame and then gonna quit touching it. Looks great and what's nice about this is we've got a surface here where you can set bottles or coffee cups or whatever on there and it's one big coaster. You don't have to worry about marking up your tabletop 'cause we got a piece of floor tile in there that's very durable and I really like how it looks up against the stained oak. So that takes care of making our tile table. Hope you enjoyed this project. Pretty easy one to put together and hope you try making it in your shop.
I feel like I hear you say in the video that you flip the top of the table before attaching it to the legs and rails and after installing the MDF piece into the top piece. Is that right? Do you put the MDF piece in placed on the rabbets that were cut then flip the whole top of the table before attaching it to the rails and legs?
George, I'm a fairly newcomer to woodworking and in the process of building this table, how did you fasten the 1/4" mdf to the bottom of the top? I really enjoy your videos on this project
Great project, George. But following up on Ed's water spill comment, may I suggest replacing the MDF tile substrate with 1/4 ply? I think its prudent practice to avoid MDF entirely on anything that has a chance of getting wet - unless maybe you want a raised tile top...
Did you roundover or somehow soften the outer edges of the table top? From the video image, that appears to be the case, but I saw no mention of that in the videos.
I would be concerned about liquid spills dripping between the tile and the frame.
awesome 3 part series. simple construction and assembly. I made a coffee table with 12 inch floor tiles and this gives me some good ideas for an end table. thanks