How to Make a Rough Hewn Table for a Greenhouse

Use a tape measure to size and select three 6-inch bark-on pine logs. Cut the logs to 6 feet in length with a chainsaw. Place a log in a steel vise and use a double-handle draw-knife to peel the log. Remove half the bark to retain the rough-hewn look.

Once all the logs have been stripped, use a hatchet, hammer and splitting wedge to split the logs. Pound the hatchet into the center of the log end until the blunt end is flush with the long end. Pull the hatchet handle down and continue to pound the hatchet at an angle, moving it down the log. As the split widens, insert a splitting wedge and drive it into the split until the hatchet is free. Pound the wedge until the log splits. Repeat the splitting process on the other logs.

Select the five log halves with the flattest and most uniform split surface. Use a hatchet to cut off knots and bumps. Place the log halves in a steel vise and use the draw knife to flatten the split surfaces of the logs enough to make them usable as a tabletop but keep them rough-hewn and rustic.

Invert the five log halves on a flat concrete surface, flat side down. Cut three 2-by-4s 2 feet in length and nail them across the backside of the logs. Nail the 2-by-4s at 18, 36 and 54 inches from one end, driving 20d spikes through the 2-by-4s and into all the log halves.

Measure and cut four 4-inch logs for the legs of the table, making them 30 inches in length. Use the draw knife to peel the logs. Measure, mark and use a hole-saw bit to drill a 1 1/ 2-inch hole 2 inches deep into all four logs, 12 inches from one end. Lay the logs flat with the drilled holes facing up. Drill another 1 1/2-inch hole in each log, 24 inches from the same end of the logs. Make them at right angles to the previous hole (one quarter of the way around the log). Two logs should have the hole drilled to the right of the first hole; the other two to the left.

Measure, cut and peel four 3-inch logs, making two of them 26 inches long and two of them 50 inches long. Mount them in a vise and use a tennon-cutting bit to carve a 1-inch tennon 1 1/2-inches in diameter on both ends of all four logs. Use a hammer to pound the four 3-inch logs into the corresponding holes in the four 4-inch legs.

Invert the leg assembly and lay it on the underside of the inverted table top. Move the leg assembly until the tennons are resting evenly and proportionately on the first and fifth logs. Mark the locations for drill holes, scribing around the tennons. Use the hole-saw bit to drill the four holes 2 inches deep.

Place the leg assembly on the inverted, drilled tabletop and work the tennons into the four drill holes. Pound them in approximately one inch. Invert the table, right-side up. Use a level and pound the corners above the legs until the table is level. Note: all four legs will not be fully pounded into their respective holes. This allows the table to be pounded level.