Yasthil Bhagwandeen

DIY · October 23, 2022 · 3 min read

Red Oak Tabletop

Finished Red Oak tabletop installed on a sit-stand desk

In this post I share how I built a 27” x 84” (7ft) tabletop using Red Oak for a friend of mine.

Finished Red Oak tabletop

Background

During the pandemic, working from home became the way of life for many, including myself. Sitting for extended hours was not great, so I purchased a motorized sit/stand desk. This excluded the tabletop, and was cheaper than the all-in-one tables. When looking for a tabletop, I didn’t like the options I saw online, because the price vs quality didn’t make sense.

Naturally, I Googled “how to build a tabletop,” and that’s how my woodworking journey began! :D

Since then, I’ve built a few projects using SPF (Spruce/Pine/Fir), i.e. softwood. However, this is my first project using hardwood — Red Oak.

Materials

  • S4S boards of Red Oak
  • Titebond 2
  • Watco Danish Oil — Dark Walnut
  • Minwax Wipe-On Polyurethane
  • Minwax Finishing Wax Paste
  • Scott shop towels

Tools

  • 3/4” pipe clamps
  • Miter saw (to trim off the ends)
  • Track saw (to clean up the edges for a seamless glue-up)
  • Random orbital sander

Design

  • Dimensions: 27” x 84”, with a final thickness of ~1”
  • Wood: Red Oak — I chose this for its value and strength

Step 1: Purchase the lumber

My friend and I visited our local hardwood supplier and chose out our boards. Since I don’t have a planer, jointer, or table saw, we asked the supplier to mill the boards down to six 4.5” × 7ft boards (S4S). This meant that all 4 sides would be surfaced and true.

Step 2: Dry fit

Once the boards were ready, I did a dry fit, and they were all flat and straight.

Dry fitting the boards

Step 3: Jointing the edges

Since I didn’t have a jointer nor a table saw, I used my track saw to joint the edges. I clamped some scrap 2x4s on top of and below two boards, which helped them stay together. You don’t want to clamp the boards together directly, since this will cause them to bind and potentially cause kick-back.

Jointing the board edges with a track saw

Step 4: Glue-up

Using 3/4” pipe clamps, I applied a liberal amount of Titebond 2 and clamped the boards together. Unfortunately, I did the glue-up 4-5 weeks after getting the boards from the supplier, and some boards had developed a bow. I tried my best to clamp the boards straight using clamping cauls, however it wasn’t a perfect glue-up. All I could do was wait for the glue to dry and try to sand the table flat.

Glue-up with pipe clamps

Step 5: Sanding

After scraping off the glue, I started sanding. I used the following grits:

  • 4 passes of 80 grit (I needed to remove a fair amount of material since it wasn’t a perfect glue-up)
  • 4 passes of 120 grit
  • 2 passes of 220 grit
  • Sprayed on water (raised the grain) and did another pass of 220 grit

Sanding the tabletop

Tabletop surface after sanding

Step 6: Trimming and routing

I trimmed the edges to final length using my track saw and routed the edges using a 1/4” round-over bit.

Routed edge detail

Step 7: Finishing

  • 3 coats of Danish Oil (Dark Walnut), wiping off excess between coats. After the last coat, I let it dry for 72 hours.
  • 3 coats of wipe-on poly
  • Finally, I used finishing paste wax

Applying finish to the tabletop

Final Result

Installed on the sit-stand desk:

Finished tabletop installed on the sit-stand desk

Shared on Instructables as well

https://www.instructables.com/Red-Oak-Tabletop-for-Sit-Stand-Desk/