Building a Banquet Table

I've always loved to tinker on things and up to now I've spent many hours taking things out of storage (typically closets or under my bed), working on them and then putting them back away.  One thing that I've wanted ever since I can remember was space to work on projects where I could spread out and then leave things setup until I came back to work on them.  When we bought our house, we finally had space, but we still haven't had anywhere to put my projects... until now.

I decided that what we really should get is a long table that would work as a workbench and also could be moved downstairs for a dinner table should large group of people (hint, hint family) ever come and visit us.  I decided that what I really needed to do was to build two tables: one for Megan up in our office where she can put all her scrap booking stuff and one for me in the basement where I can put all my paintball stuff and other projects.  I started with Megan's table which is 2.5'x8'.  Mine will be 3'x8' but I'll have to wait until next weekend to build it.

I initially thought about just putting a board on sawhorses, but then I found a deal on table legs from Harbor Freight (which is one of my favorite stores).  I paid $9 for the legs.

Next, we went to Home Depot and for each table we bought a 4'x8' piece of particle board (~$5.50) and a 4'x8' piece of a masonite-like manufactured wood with a rough side and a smooth side (~7.50).  I also got a few 2"x3"x8' pieces of lumber for support (~$4) and appropriate screws, nuts and washers ($4).  We got the larger boards cut at Home Depot (free) and tied them to the top of our car for the trip home (which went very smoothly with no problems).

Rather than go into all the specifics, I'll show some pictures.  You can also see the handy-dandy work benches I got that made working much easier (thanks Megan).  I put the support braces 4.5" inside the outer edge of the table, reinforced the area where I attached the legs with leftover particle board, and tightened all the bolts until the were driven in and were basically flush with the top of the table.  After the frame was done I put a layer of wood glue all over the top and we attached the masonite sheet and let it dry over night.  To complete the project, we put a layer of electrical tape all around the edge to hide the rough edges and made used thumbtacks to attach it to the table.

After roughly $30 (plus tax), a few hours of work and an encouraging wife, I ended up with the final product that I am quite pleased with.  It's sturdy, easily moved by two people, has foldable legs, and it looks nice.  I may take a hacksaw to the long bolts someday (I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do when I bought them, so I got long bolts just to be safe), but for now I won't worry about it.  All in all, I figure that with a table cloth we could use it at a wedding.