Technical Details

Woods Used: Zebra and Sapele
Construction: Screws and wood glue, butcherblock top can be removed for easier transport
Butcherblock Dimensions: 25x74x1.5in
Table Height: 36.5in
Finish: 220grit followed by Danish oil coat for frame and food safe mineral oil for butcherblock

Project Challenges and Lessons Learned:
This project is the OG. Literally everything was hard. The whole apartment vibrated from the orbital sander and sawdust regularly found its way into our living space even when the patio doors were closed. It is amazing that we only got one noise complaint.

When you search on YouTube for DIY woodworking projects, I would guess well over half of them involve a table saw, router table, 2 car garage, and what feels like an unlimited budget. None of these luxuries were available to us. My then girlfriend and I were living in a 800sqft apartment with a tiny balcony on ground level. There was no space in that apartment to store large tools, equipment, or materials. We had to get creative on pretty much everything. There were some very interesting jigs and fixtures. Tool purchases were made with versatility being the top priority. This project is proof that you can do some high quality work without ample space or specialized tools and I am proud of that. Now with that being said, I am so grateful that we have since moved on from that space. I now have a modest single car garage that is an order of magnitude nicer to work in. I have been slowly acquiring more appropriate tools, and have enough space to store materials for longer term projects.

And for the record, yes you can rip cut an 8ft stretch of sapele with a Dewalt circular saw attached to a plastic Kreg jig and keep it to within 1/16" for the entire length. They said it could not be done!