Popular Woodworking – August 2019

(Michael S) #1
POPULARWOODWORKING.COM ■ 23

I’ve always loved aircraft-
inspired design. There’s just
something about an everyday item
inspired by a plane that evokes a
sense of wanderlust in me, and I
wanted to make a piece of furni-
ture that had that aircraft feel. This
concrete and walnut “wing” table is
the result.
Before I go further, let me answer
the questions on everyone’s mind:
Why concrete? Isn’t this a wood-
working magazine? If you’re a wood-
worker, you already possess many of
the skills and tools needed to work
with concrete. And, adding concrete
to your design arsenal will open a
world of new design possibilities.
For this design, concrete was the
perfect choice. And it’s not just any
concrete, it’s white glass-fi ber rein-
forced concrete (GFRC). Standard


3


concrete mixes from the big-box
store must be cast 1^1 / 2 " to 2" thick,
while a GFRC mix can be cast as thin
as ¾". Glass fi bers are embedded in
the mix, and when cured, give it more
strength than a typical aggregate-on-
ly concrete mix. GFRC allowed me
to achieve the sleek, modern, air-
craft-inspired aesthetic I was looking
for by casting the angled waterfall
tabletop as a single 1"-thick piece.

Building the Form
The fi rst step in most “precast” con-
crete projects is building the form
into which you’ll spray and/or pour
the concrete. The form is essential-
ly an upside-down, reverse image
of the piece you’re making. Many
materials can be used to make a
concrete form. However, melamine
is the most popular material, since

concrete doesn’t stick to its smooth
waterproof surface, and it’s easy to
cut and shape with standard wood-
working equipment.
There are two approaches to
building the melamine form. The
fi rst approach is cutting the base of
the form to the exact shape of your
fi nal piece and then screwing the
sides of the form to the sides of the
base. The second approach is using

12


1 Cutting 30° support pieces for the
waterfall base with a miter gauge on
the table saw.
2 Using hot glue to build up the
concrete form before screwing
things together.
3 Attaching the side pieces of the
form.
Free download pdf