# Dog dish mini-table build thread



## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

Okay, so the wife is out of town and I have a few days off. I thought that I would take a stab at making a build thread for a small table for my dog's food and water dishes. I built a test model for size and height a few weeks back and the beast (Layla, the border collie) seems to like it. 









The table that I am now starting will be stripped maple and walnut. I have some crude planes drawn, so now it is time to get.l crackin'!









I have just about all of the wood cut to rough length and thickness. I have sawdust to prove it. 

















Now to start setting up the placement of the legs, cutting angles, and gluing something!

Bare with me, I am in uncharted territory


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## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

It looks like you figured out how to make a pile of sawdust. That's a good start. :laughing:


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## 27207 (Jan 25, 2012)

Do those bowls seem to stay put on the table? I was nervous the dog would knock them off so I cut holes for the dish to sit into for mine. it works great! But I want to build a new one. Mine was a quickie out of an old particle board shelf, and the water is now deliminating it.


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

Dwillems26 said:


> Do those bowls seem to stay put on the table? I was nervous the dog would knock them off so I cut holes for the dish to sit into for mine. it works great! But I want to build a new one. Mine was a quickie out of an old particle board shelf, and the water is now deliminating it.


 
I was curious about that as well. That is part of why I built the test table out of scrap pine and pressure treated 2x4. I wasn't sure if she would even like the thing...or wreck it. She isn't too crazy of an eater and the ceramic bowls are heavy enough that they seem to stay put. I was stil considering adding a lip of some kind...but without a router, that would be a pain in the neck.


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## 27207 (Jan 25, 2012)

Phaedrus said:


> I was curious about that as well. That is part of why I built the test table out of scrap pine and pressure treated 2x4. I wasn't sure if she would even like the thing...or wreck it. She isn't too crazy of an eater and the ceramic bowls are heavy enough that they seem to stay put. I was stil considering adding a lip of some kind...but without a router, that would be a pain in the neck.


That makes sense then, my dog will jam her nose into the corner to pick up the last few pieces of food lol. and every time she's done eating or drinking she licks the top edge of the bowl which can slide it if it's not full of water. Maybe several coats of poly will protect my next one. I'm looking forward to seeing yours when completed!


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

A top layer with cutouts made with a bandsaw or jigsaw glued ( laminated) onto it would work, wouldn't it? Nice project by the way.


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

rayking49 said:


> A top layer with cutouts made with a bandsaw or jigsaw glued ( laminated) onto it would work, wouldn't it? Nice project by the way.


That approach for the top was in my origianl plans as I was considereing this project, but hat was before I came across theis great walnut for the top surface. Because the top will be striped, I'd have to cut thin pieces of both woods and make an entire second layer for top to keep that element. Not impossible, but probably somewhere between where my skill level ands and just before where my ambition runs out. We'll see what happens :thumbsup:.


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

Today's update:
I have one leg nearly assembled and the other about two-thirds complete. I have the top cut and ready to be glued. I will trim the ends once assembled.









I also have my recently acquired small belt/disc sander adjusted and clad with new belt and disc. This is hugely helpful shaving bits off of my mitered cuts to make everything fit as tightly as possible. Not too shabby for a $10 sander.


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## 65BAJA (May 27, 2012)

Wow, That's going to look really nice. I hope your dog appreciates it.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

This is going to look awesome! I can't wait to see more progression pictures.


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

Well the legs are 90% assembled. They each have a one piece that I won't glue until I can test fit the exact size. I have some sanding and shaving to do in a few spots, i need to trim the excess off of the tenons from the legs, and glue the top together. We'll see how much I can get done today before work.


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

Okay, legs both fully assembled and sanded to 320. I will just need to trim the excess tenons when the top is ready. 










The top is largely glued. There are four maple pieces that go in the ends. Their positioning is determines the size of the gap for the legs to pass through. I am going to wait until the rest of the top is good and dry before I tackle that.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Dang man, that just went from cool to super cool! Your dog must truly be man's best friend. He/she is getting a serving platter worthy of a K-9 king.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

That is looking mighty good!


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

Alright, short update from today. I did a bunch of sanding today to get the leg tenons to fit properly. They fit now and are very, very snug. I probably wouldn't have had to use any glue as tightly as they fit, but I did use some. I also glued in the last four maple pieces in the top. I did preliminary sanding on the top. Tomorrow, when the glue is dry, I'll chip away the glue squeeze out, flatten the top, finish sanding the whole stool. Oh, I also need to trip the bar that stretches between the legs to the correct size.



















Pretty soon, I need to start thinking about a finish. I was originally intending to just apply some water based poly, but I was only considering this because I have used it in the past. Any suggestions for a finish that is durable, waterproof, and not too difficult to apply?


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

Alright, so I have finished the assembly and sanding of the small table. Below are a couple of pictures of where it is at right now. The wood is still damp with some minerals spirits that I was using to aid in the dusting process. I really like how the grain looks when it has a little mineral spirits. I am considering an oil based brush on polyurathane such as this. Hopefully that will be durable enough and easy enough to apply. 










































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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

*Done!*

Well, the finish is done. I am going to let it harden a few days before I let her use it. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I was pretty concerned that I wouldn't be able to get the boards cut as squarely as needed without a planer or jointer, but it worked out this time with just taking my time on the TS and sanding to flatten out my laminated panels. I am excited to try out some "real" mortise and tenon joinery--insteady of my lazy-man's mortises that I used on this. The wife gets home at the end of this week and I hope to get final approval from her on this one :thumbsup:.










































































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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Your wife is going to love it. Man, that turned out great! Excellent work.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

That turned out better than I thought. This is beautiful. Nice clean joints. 
My question is how do you keep the bowls from falling off. If it were my dogs those bowls would be all over the floor. Lol.


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

Dominick said:


> That turned out better than I thought. This is beautiful. Nice clean joints.
> My question is how do you keep the bowls from falling off. If it were my dogs those bowls would be all over the floor. Lol.


Heavy ceramic bowls and a dog that is a gentle eater. She is really intense when playing frisbee or playing with her toys and other dogs, but she is a very cautious eater. :laughing:


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Maybe using Velcro would help stabilize it. But if she a gentle eater more power to ya, or her. Thumbs up
Besides that's nicer than some furniture in most peoples homes. Got any pics of her in action?


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Phaedrus said:


> Heavy ceramic bowls...


...with felt or rubber padding on bottom, I hope. I'd hate for the finish to get scratched up. We're talking fine furniture here. Kind of. It certainly is beautiful, that's for sure.


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