Woven Top Coffee Table From Scrap

I had seen a woven bench design on a home improvement show that I intended to copy to make a coffee table. I had some scrap wood left over from a broken down fence, a broken down hammock and then one day I saw a glass top coffee table at Goodwill that looked like the right size for our front room. I have only just started making things and wanted to make something using simple methods and materials. This is also my first instructable so constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Here is my list of materials

• Glass top coffee table - $60
• ¾ inch self adhesive vinyl bumper pads - $2
• Scrap wood – free
• Cotton thread – free
• 2 inch Wood screws – 12
• Sandpaper – 60 / 120 / 240 grit
• Oil based wood stain – 1 quart

Tools I used

• Hand saw
• Staple gun
• Hot glue gun
• Utility knife

I cut the scrap wood from two planks of wood that were about 2 inches thick. Since I used a hand saw the planes were not as straight as I would have liked. Nevertheless I pressed forward and sanded it down. One of the planes was already painted and I only scraped it. First with 60 grit then 120 grit and finally with 240 grit sandpaper. After this I applied one coat of an oil based wood stain and left it about 2 days to cure. Then I assembled the table just like the diagram.

The next step was putting together the top. The cotton thread that I had was from the remnants of a hammock and quite thin. So, I decided to use 4 strands for each length. First, I glued the strands using the hot glue gun and then stapled them into the wood on the underside of the table. Finally I trimmed the excess threads using a utility knife.

With 4 strings I started weaving in the one up one down pattern lengthwise. The first 2 weaves took a little longer but once they were done it was easier to weave the others. I did not attach the threads to the wood till I completed the entire weave. One other problem I faced was that the 4 threads in each weave kept getting tangled. I did spend a lot of time smoothing it out afterwards. Once the entire weave was complete I glued and stapled one side first. Then I pulled as hard as I could to remove any slack and tension before gluing and stapling. I finished it off the same way by trimming the threads.

After this I placed the 4 vinyl bumpers on the underside of the glass top and put it on the table.