I have a very old kitchen table (circa 1940s) that I will be using in my apartment and that I am trying to refinish. The attached picture will show why 
The picture is of the table when I first started working on it; it's a bit better now thanks to some elbow grease and spray paint but I wanted to show what I was working with.
The table top right now is pine, after I scraped off the linoleum top. Because the underlying wood is so soft, and because I went hard with the scraping, it is very uneven with lots of grooves.
It used to have a leaf, but that is long gone now, so I don't want it to pull apart at the middle any longer.
After a lot of debating, I decided to concrete the top. If you look around the top of the table, you can see there is a piece of metal edging that goes all the way around. After getting rid of the linoleum, there is now about 3/8" of that sticking up above the table top, so my plan was to put a thin layer of concrete on the actual table and bring it level with the metal edging. This will help keep the top from being too heavy as well.
Here are my major questions:
1) What is the best way to secure the two sides of the table so that it doesn't spread apart and crack the concrete? I was thinking of using some kind of bridge on the underneath and screwing it in so that the parts don't move. Is there a good way to fill in the seam in the middle so that it will prevent cracking there as well?
2) What do you think is the best type of concrete to use? I plan to sand sand seal when done.
3) Any other tips?
My father is a pretty good carpenter, but he absolutely hates this table and says that it is crappy and cheap, so he won't really help me with this one. But, it was my grandmother's and then my mother's so it means a lot to me.
Thanks!
The picture is of the table when I first started working on it; it's a bit better now thanks to some elbow grease and spray paint but I wanted to show what I was working with.The table top right now is pine, after I scraped off the linoleum top. Because the underlying wood is so soft, and because I went hard with the scraping, it is very uneven with lots of grooves.
It used to have a leaf, but that is long gone now, so I don't want it to pull apart at the middle any longer.
After a lot of debating, I decided to concrete the top. If you look around the top of the table, you can see there is a piece of metal edging that goes all the way around. After getting rid of the linoleum, there is now about 3/8" of that sticking up above the table top, so my plan was to put a thin layer of concrete on the actual table and bring it level with the metal edging. This will help keep the top from being too heavy as well.
Here are my major questions:
1) What is the best way to secure the two sides of the table so that it doesn't spread apart and crack the concrete? I was thinking of using some kind of bridge on the underneath and screwing it in so that the parts don't move. Is there a good way to fill in the seam in the middle so that it will prevent cracking there as well?
2) What do you think is the best type of concrete to use? I plan to sand sand seal when done.
3) Any other tips?
My father is a pretty good carpenter, but he absolutely hates this table and says that it is crappy and cheap, so he won't really help me with this one. But, it was my grandmother's and then my mother's so it means a lot to me.
Thanks!
