As I waited for the stain to dry, I was able to paint the large (6") casters the table sits on. I looked around online for actual antique ones (or at least ones that looked vintage enough), but they were generally over $100 a piece. Too much! So I just bought these regular shiny metal ones from Lowe's for $10 a piece. I spray painted them black with a faux hammered-finish paint. (I'm not sure if "faux" is supposed to be in italics, but I'm erring on the side of pretentious.)
Once the stain finally did dry, it was time to assemble the table. As I mentioned, I generally followed this plan from Ana White, with a few modifications.
I attached the apron with Kreg jig pocket holes, to avoid having any screws visible on the outside. The plans called for 2x4s running flush along the bottom of the short side of the apron, to be used as the support for the casters. But the mounting plate of the 6" casters was too big, so I had to upgrade to 2x6s. I bolted the casters on and tightened everything down.
The eight top boards fasten to three 2x4s running the long way down the box. (You can see a side one and the middle one in the picture above). The plans call for the tops boards to be screwed on, but I wanted to go for the same look as our old wooden floors, which have old-timey square-headed nails. So I ordered a bag of 2" ones from here. I also intended to glue the boards as well as nail them, but the wood glue was frozen solid, since it was about 10 degrees out when I working on the table. The label actually said it shouldn't be used below 55 degrees. Stupid fair weather glue. Since I wasn't going to wait until April to finish the table, I did it without glue.
The nails went in easily and didn't split the boards, which I was kind of worried about. I set the heads just a little below the surface, but high enough that you could still tell they were the kind of fancy square-headed nails you have to order on the Internet.
And that's it! I'm very pleased with how the table came out.
Nice Table!
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