Collin’s Coffee Table/Bed Bench

Sometimes I make Christmas presents to give to folks.  It's not any sort of tradition or anything.  I just do it if the right situation presents itself.  So when my stepson, Collin, said that he needed a coffee table for his place, I saw an opportunity to make one for him.  I wanted it to be something that would like and something that he would use for a long time.  He is an 18 year old young man, and I recall being 18 years old.  I recall putting a lot of nicks and scratches on my furniture because of carelessness and from moving so much while I was in college.  I wanted to build something that would be sturdy but not something so nice that a spill or a scrape would be a big deal. 

Something important to know about Collin is that he is a cowboy. He has ridden bulls, he wants to rope in rodeos, and he works part time at a cattle ranch.  I wanted to personalize his table to reflect his passion for all things western.  I chose to engrave a bull's skull on the table after I toasted the table with a torch.  I projected an image onto the wood with a projector that I have in my classroom and then I traced it out with a sharpie.  From there, I used a Dremel tool to engrave the image.  I had hoped that the white wood below the torched surface would really pop when contrasted against the toasted wood and, thankfully, that's exactly what happened!  I then colored in the nostrils and eyes with a black sharpie and put a couple of coats of polyurethane on the bench. 

This project used seven 2 X 4's, some 2 and 1/2 inch wood screws, and a chop saw.  That was about it.  Collin was happy with how his gift turned out and Wendy (my wife) liked it so much that she asked me to make another one to put at the foot of our bed to act as a "bed bench".  That term was new to me but I can actually see us utilizing such an item to store shoes and to sit on while putting on shoes/boots.  I'll share that project when it gets completed (should be soon) because I'm planning on customizing it in a different way.  If you dig this project like Wendy did, feel free to email me at showmeflyguy@gmail.com if you need some specifications.  I would be happy to help you make your own coffee table/bed bench!