
Metal and Wood Centerpiece
I didn’t know what to call this really. Saw something similar on pinterest and thought…I would like to have one of those and it could be fun to make.
I drew up a sketch because I knew as soon as I mentioned it to Jim he would have a bunch of precise questions. Don’t laugh…

All I knew is I wanted it to be wider than it is tall (unlike my drawing). I found a weathered 2 x 6 so that was the jumping off point.

I also found a couple of pieces of scrap metal we could use. Mind you they were slightly different widths, minor detail. Ha.
As well, I knew I wanted it to be roughly 24 inches long when finished. So first we cut the board on the table saw…

Time to take the weatheredness (is that a word?) off it. Usually we would pass it through the planer but Jim said it would be a herculean task to get the planer out, so we used the jointer to get the four sides level.


Then the board got sanded on all sides.

Here it is with the two pieces of scrap metal I found.

Time to bend the metal. We have bent metal like this before when we made a wall clock.

This time we wanted corners in the metal. Jim took the first piece of metal and we did some measurements and made a mark where the first corner would go. The metal got put in the vise and Jim started to bend it with brute strength.

After another measurement he made the second bend.

Time to make the third bend.


With the four corners done, it was time to cut off the excess metal. Jim used a handsaw with the metal in the vise again.

We decided it wasn’t necessary to weld the metal together. The “seam” will be on the bottom and will be squeezed tight. Probably a herculean task to get out the welder anyways.
You can’t even see the seam on the bottom. But see how it looks just like my drawing!!

Ever make something, winging it as you go, only to have to make a second one. Hard to get the bends in exactly the same place, exactly the same length, but we did it.
To attach the wood and metal together we decided to use screws, so we had to mark and drill holes in the metal bands. One on each side.


Since our metal corners were rounded, we eased the top two edges of the board to match the rounded bend.

Time for finishing. I brought all the pieces into the house and in the finishing room I painted the metal with black paint for metal. I wasn’t sure if I had metal paint and I would have just used regular paint in that case, but luck was with me.

I stained the board with Minwax Early American stain using a cloth.

With everything dry, I assembled the pieces using four screws.

For now I added a few plants to the top but I imagine it will sometimes get filled with candles and at Christmas time candles and greenery.

Here it is a little closer…

Turned out to be a great way to spend a hot Sunday afternoon.
Later

