Joshua's Sand Table

On the weekend I finished up Joshua's sand/water table.

Rosemary got a good deal on this table from her school. It's similar to this one available at Scholar's Choice for $529. It has a clear acrylic top for when it's not in use and the large tub can hold sand, water, dry pasta, cornmeal or any number of other fun things for kids to play with.

When we got this table the wood was in pretty sad shape. The frame is solid maple, each side held together with glue and dowels. There was one stretcher missing and many of the joints had loosened or failed completely. The casters were broken down and there was no faucet/stop on the tub. The connecting bolts that hold the frame together were bent and a few were missing.

After pulling the frame completely apart I ran the pieces through my planer to remove the old finish and grime. A bit of sanding with the belt sanding attachment on my oscillating spindle sander and it was ready to be glued back together. I replaced the missing stretcher with a piece of scrap oak and the glued the whole thing back together.

We applied 3 coats of Minwax wipe-on polyurethane to protect the wood. I picked up 4 new casters, 8 plated bolts/lock nut sets, a plastic faucet and two bags of blue play sand at Home Depot to finish up the project.

Joshua and his friends on the block are happy to have another toy to play with!