That week I tried to make a coffee table from $2 fence pickets

I swear my local Dollar Store in Phoenix had these skinny wood pickets that looked perfect for a rustic coffee table. Spent four evenings gluing and nailing them together, only to have the whole thing warp and crack after one humid afternoon in my living room. Ended up using the scraps to make a janky phone stand that actually works fine. Has anyone else had dollar store wood just fail on them like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

sam_anderson1mo ago

Did you check the moisture content of that wood before you started? I build stuff with cheap lumber all the time and the trick is letting it sit in your house for a week before you do anything. Dollar store pickets are usually kiln dried but they can still have like 12% moisture if they were stored outside. You gotta seal all six sides too not just the top. I made a whole bookshelf out of those same pickets last summer and its still standing straight after two monsoons because I hit it with three coats of polyurethane before assembly. Sounds like you skipped the prep work and just went straight to building which is a rookie mistake.

butler.brian1mo ago

Wait, three coats of polyurethane before assembly? Like you sealed every single edge and face of each individual board before you even put it together? That must have taken forever, I can't even imagine taping off all the joints and stuff. But I guess it makes sense if you're serious about keeping moisture out, especially with the cheap stuff that's gonna warp if you look at it wrong. Honestly, that's more dedication than I've ever put into a project, I usually just slap a coat of paint on the finished thing and call it good.