Hey there welcome to DIY projects with Pete today I'm going to walk you through the process of building a 2-inch thick concrete coffee table will wet polish it to give it a nice smooth and sleek finish and then I'll show you the process of embedding a metal design or a logo like I did here of the state outline of Montana where I live now many of the techniques used in today's project can actually be used to build concrete counters if that's something you're researching so let's go ahead and get started with today's project the first step to making a concrete table is to build the mold mark for your dimensions and use a straight edge to draw lines to follow then cut the piece of 3/4 inch thick melamine down to size using a circular saw or a table saw once the base portion of the mold is sawn I cut a manageable size of melamine to make the sidewalls added for a two-inch thick concrete top you'll want to cut the strips at 2 and 3/4 inches in width to compensate for the base piece of the mold use a miter saw to cut the sidewalls to length you can find all the measurements used in today's project in the free plans at DIY P comm forward slash concrete table with inlay then begin attaching the sidewalls to the base piece on a flattened level surface always pre-drilled to prevent the wood from splitting make sure the screw goes in straight and level so it ends up in the middle of the base piece then work your way around all four sides use a carpenter's square to make sure all the corners are squared up and that the sidewalls are at 90 degree angles to the base piece next we'll prepare the reinforcement that will help strengthen the table use a bolt cutter to cut the mesh down to size there should be about an inch between the perimeter of the mesh and the sidewall in many of my other videos where the concrete tops are one and a half inches or thinner I'll only use the steel remesh but for thicker projects like this 2-inch thick top I'll add some 3/8 inch rebar cut the rebar with the reciprocating saw and then attach the rebar at each corner and it to the remesh using rebar tie wire once the rebar is added go ahead and bend the remesh as needed so that it says flat as possible now we'll move on to creating a design for the metal that will be embedded in the concrete I used a vinyl cutter to create a stencil of the outline of the state I live in which is Montana now if you need stencils or vinyl decals for DIY projects I'd highly recommend checking out my buddy James's sign company at signs of the mountains calm slash DIY vinyl he'll get you all hooked up with what you need I applied the stencil traced around the design on stainless steel and then started plasma cutting if you don't have access to a plasma cutter I'd recommend finding a company in your area who could cut your design on a CNC plasma cutting machine my plasma cutter is one of my favorite tools in the shop and this Hobart 250 CI works awesome and is definitely one of my best tool investments take your time following the outline of your graphic and use both hands to help hold it steady always use the safety protection recommended when working with cutting equipment after cutting you're going to have some slag and rough edges on the metal I like to use a flat disc on an angle grinder to clean up those edges and there are a lot of different ways to finish the metal but I used an orbital sander with 120 and 220 grit sandpaper to remove scratches from those surfaces and to give it a nice look I then roughed up the back of the design with an angle grinder to help the concrete bond to it before placing the metal design in the mold you'll want to make sure it's nice and clean use a shot back to get rid of debris and some rubbing alcohol and a clean rag to make it spotless determine placement for the design and then apply a small amount of silicone on the front of it use a razor blade to spread it around evenly and super sin the silicone is strong enough to hold the design in place during the pour but it will easily peel away from the melamine and stay in the concrete once the project is de molded go ahead and seal the edges and corners up with 100% silicone this is also going to give the top edges of the concrete a slight bevel I used a beveling tool to round over the bead of silicone and always have plenty of paper towels to clean up any excess another way to do this is to use masking tape on each side of the seam and then run your index finger over the seam to create the rounded edge this is a great method as well it just takes a bit more time to tape it all off let the silicone cure for at least a couple hours once the silicone is cured you can start mixing up some concrete I used a 5000 psi mix from the hardware store that was about $5 big and I wanted to darken the color of the concrete to a darker gray color and so I mixed some charcoal pigment into the water according to the instructions you can make the concrete whatever color you'd like so have fun and put your creativity into your table I mixed this batch of concrete to an oatmeal like consistency and then transferred it to the mold fill the mold about half to a little more than half full with concrete's wear rubber gloves and use your hands to spread the concrete around the mold and your fingers to press it into the edges and the corners throughout the process you want to make sure to vibrate the concrete to minimize air pockets and voids in the finished surface then add the reinforcement making sure it sits nice and flat on the existing concrete mix up an additional few bags of concrete you'll notice this batch is a little lighter in color and that's because I thought I had a few more pigment bottles laying around the garage but I was one short and it ended up blending pretty well and I was able to darken it up a bit on the sides of the mold but moral the story make sure you have enough color for all the concrete all right so fill the mold until it is full then use a straight board to screed and level off the concrete move it back and forth in a saw like motion and fill in low spots as needed then vibrate the concrete again to get as many air pockets out of the concrete as possible shaking the work surface helps out a lot and all the time spent vibrating the concrete will be well worth it as the finish surfaces will have fewer voids to fill and will look a lot nicer use a rubber mallet to tap the mold on the side walls and from underneath and once this is completed you can prove out the concrete a bit with a trowel and then cover with plastic to help that concrete cure evenly now that the pouring is all done take some time to clean up your workspace and tools that way you'll be able to use everything for your next concrete project let the concrete cure for a couple days prior to removing the concrete from the mold now curing time is going to vary depending on the type of mix used and the temperature and humidity levels remove the screws and then take one sidewall off at a time you can use a flat screwdriver or a chisel to help pry the sidewalls off and make sure to always pry against wood and never against the concrete work your way around all four sides and then use a sanding block to soften the edges of the concrete this is going to help prevent edges and corners from breaking when working on it during the finishing processes get ready to flip the concrete by spacing some two by fours evenly for the concrete to rest on and use some old rags to protect the concrete from chipping while flipping it is a good idea to have some help for this process because the concrete is heavy slowly pull the melamine away from the concrete to reveal your tabletop for the first time I didn't have too many air pockets or voids and it was really happy with how it looked remember that it is still a diamond in the rough though and so now we'll take some time to polish to fill voids and then seal the concrete I like to start by smoothing out the underside a bit I especially recommend going around the edges or perimeter where someone might run their fingers having a smooth surface on the underside edges will give the project a real professional feel I typically start with a 200 grit polishing pad and go up to a 400 for the underside once the underside is complete rotate the concrete right side up and begin polishing I started with an 800 grit pad because I didn't want to expose the aggregate which is the rocks and sand in the concrete go over and around the metal inlay to clean the area up and you may need to use some rubbing alcohol and the Scotch pad or razor blade to remove any silicone residue if you do want to expose aggregate you can start with a lower grip pad I like to refer to the 50 to 400 grit pads more as grinding and the higher pads as polishing since you aren't removing much material say with an 800 grit pad the concrete polishing tool hooks up to a water supply like a hose or I rigged mine up to a pump sprayer water shoots out the center of the polishing pads to keep them cool now if you are planning to do a lot of concrete projects or to do counters I would recommend looking at getting a wet polisher which I'll link to in the description below but if you simply want to give a couple projects a try you can use an orbital sander similar to how I did the concrete dining table project which I'll link to as well take your time to polish the sides the edges and the top surface and work in small sections at a time the polishing process will open up some voids and pin holes in the concrete surface and will fill the voids by creating a slurry mixture that consists of cement water pigment and an optional acrylic fortifier aim for the consistency of toothpaste and then fill the voids with the slurry the mixture will lighten up considerably as it drives usually you'll want the slurry to match the concrete top as closely as possible but I have used contrasting colors before to give Conners a real unique look fill the holes as best as possible and remove excess with your hands or a plastic putty knife so you don't have to spend extra time polishing a bunch of hardened excess slurry you'll want the slurry to cure for a few hours then come back and do a final polishing I used an 800 grit pad to do the final polishing and this is going to remove the slurry residue it's going to polish up the concrete and give the project a professional finish then let the concrete dry clean it up a bit with a rag and polish up the metal inlay if needed I used an orbital sander to shine it up prior to sealing the surface first seal the underside with a couple coats of concrete sealer I used a water-based acrylic concrete sealer that I'll link to in the description the sealer dries pretty quickly so you don't need to wait too long between coats once dry flip the concrete right side up give the surface a quick cleaning and then apply the concrete sealer with a clean microfiber rag I did about six coats of sealer on the top i dilute the first couple coats about one part water to one part sealer after that i dilute each coat slightly less and the last couple coats are done full strength finish up with the final coat and then move on to building a base for the table I built the base out of a 4×4 some two by fours and plywood but feel free to modify your table base however you'd like I've actually done quite a few out of metal and they've turned out looking really cool but for this specific project I wanted to keep this space real simple and affordable to make so it's all made out of pine after making all the cuts lay out the boards on a flat work surface all the dimensions used to build the base can be found at DIY Pete calm a forward slash concrete table with inlay set a pocket hole jig up for one and a half inch thick stock and then drill two pocket holes on the ends of each board then set the pocket hole jig for 3/4 inch stock and drill pocket holes around this perimeter of the plywood which will be the lower shelf once all the pocket holes have been drilled sand the wood so it is nice and smooth prior to assembling next we'll attach you to the boards to the corner legs using wood glue and two and a half inch long pocket screws line up each board and then slowly insert the screws until the joint is tight I attached four outer boards before adding the two Center supports spaced the center supports evenly and then wipe up any excess glue using a damp rag next measure two and a half inches in from the end of each leg and draw a line will then attach each two-by-four which will help form the lower shelf I use Jack clamps as my extra set of hands for this project to help hold the boards of the proper height while attaching them and a set of bar clamps or longer clamps can come in handy for this project as well to hold the board tightly in place during assembly I cut spacers out of a scrap 2×4 board to hold the lower shelf at the correct height then I attached the shelf from the other side using screws you'll want to make sure that the plywood is flush with the two by fours for the shelf sand the base and apply a stain or paint of your choice I used a stain and sealed the base with a water-based polyurethane lastly find somebody strong like my good buddy Dustin to help carry the table into your home I hope this inspires you to build a project using concrete if you found this video helpful please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel please comment below and let me know what you'd like to see built in an upcoming DIY video thanks for watching and Cheers from Montana [Music]
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