A NEW TOP FOR THE GECKO

Well, it seems like forever since I've posted anything. 

But I finally finished a project that I've had on my mind for some time.

I've had some old pallets laying around for quite a while. So I

decided on a project for them.  I'd do a new table top for the gecko.

I kept the original top and just constructed something to sit on top of it.

You can see the results below.

Let's go over the process of this project.

Here are some of the pallets.

They're pretty nasty looking aren't they.

I found it extremely hard to remove the boards.

I guess because the nails had rusted into the wood.

I had to use a tool to saw them from the edges then

work them back and forth to loosen up the center nails.

But I finally ended up with enough boards to do my project.

After I had the boards free from the pallets 

I had to remove the nails from the center.

That was pretty labor intensive also but finally I had them all removed.

Then I hand sanded over the boards to remove excess dirt.

I finally have a wheelbarrow full.

Time to go down to the shop.

My dad helped me run them through the planer to get them all the same thickness.

Then I had to run them on the jointer to get an even edge.

Didn't the wood turn out pretty.

I used a nail gun to secure the planks to a piece of plywood

cut to the dimensions that I wanted for the table top.

As you can notice I decided to make it a little bigger then the

original top.

I then laid out the boards to try to get an idea of how I wanted

the boards to look. I then took everything down to the shop and attached

them with a nail gun. Fitting them together was quite a project. I had to run 

some on the jointer to have them fit together properly and all of them were cut with the chop saw

to desired length. Then it was sanded with a belt sander to smooth everything out.

 It's not perfect but I think it turned out pretty good.

I decided to use only polyurethane to seal it.

This picture shows how the poly helps to bring out

the richness of the wood.

And here it is in place.

Just in time to load it up with all of our Thanksgiving dishes.

This picture shows what the original boards

looked like before with the after.

I decided to add a simple band of lattice

 around the edges to finish it off.

Another look at the different woods.

The dark spots are the old nail holes.

Finally another look at the finished project.

But stay tuned, because I have a hunch that the

green gecko will be changing color after the first of the year.

Check back to see how it will turn out.

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moonbeam276

There is no one holy like the Lord...

there is no Rock like our God.

1 Samuel 2:2