I made these MDF pedestals on which flower bowls will sit at our upcoming wedding.
To simplify the required materials for the project they are entirely made out of 18mm ply. The base and top of the pedestals are made with multiple layers of 18mm that have been glued together to make thicker components.
The construction of these was straight-forward, from a single 18mm board:
- The first cut on the table saw was at the height of the central columns (750mm)
- This smaller board was then cut into eight sections at the width a columns (200mm)
- Now at the correct size, the columns were butt joined together with glue and brad nails
- The next cut on the table saw was 250mm wide for the top and the lower base of the pedestals
- Keeping the table saw fence at the same position they were then cut into 10 squares
- I then moved the table saw down to 230mm for the smaller upper base of the pedestals
- Similarly I cut vertically and then without moving the fence cut horizontally to make 4 squares
- The squares for the base/ top were glued on top of each other, 3x for the lower base, 2x for the upper base and 2x for the top, paying attention to make one of the edges as flush as possible
- After the glue dried I used the cross-cut fence against the flush edge to shave a few mill of each side ensuring all the other edges were perfectly flush with one-another
- The bases / tops were attached to the columns with countersunk screws which were then filled-over with wood filler
Overall I am pleased with the outcome of the project. One downside of using multiple layers to build the thicker components for the top and base is some barely visible lines (after painting):
Lessons learned:
- Mitred cuts on the table saw are more difficult than I had expected - practice needed!
- Painting end-grain butt MDF butt joined against a face-grain can be difficult to get a smooth finish
- Never forget how long a project drags in the primer / paint / sanding phase