Tito's Table

I can't sit around doing nothing, so I decided to do a small project I had been putting off, and that was to make a 'dog table' for our second dog, he is a rescue dog, and struggles to eat because of a deformed jaw, due to abuse as a pup. As a result he ends up pushing his bowl all over the room, to try and get the food, it was time to put this right.
Firstly I had to decide how high to make the table, the internet was no use at all, everyone has their own ideas as to how high it should be, so I decided that about two thirds his leg height would be comfortable for him, if not, I will have to make some adjustments. I had some laminated oak board, left over from another project, so decided to use that. Now was the first time I would be using my circle cutting jig in anger, so I was interested to see how hard or easy it would be to use.

I set it up with my trim router, the jig is just a piece of scrap 1/2" ply, attached to the trim router, with 5/16" holes drilled at 1" intervals, which I use to pin the centre of the circle. The trim router is fitted with a 1/4" straight bit.





I was surprised at how easy it was to cut the circle, I did it in several passes, so as not to strain the router. To avoid tear out, I turned the board over and did the final cut from the other side.





That done I cut out the side supports and cross rails





I decided to shape the supports, and then using my trim router freehand, rounded over all the exposed edges that the bowl and the dog would come into contact with. I also prepared the pocket holes to attach the legs to the top, they won't be seen as they are on the inside, so there is no need to fill them.





Once assembled, I took the table down to the house to ensure the bowl sat correctly





Then it was back to the workshop to put some finish, I decided to use varnish, as the dog will probably be slobbering over it, so I used 50/50 varnish to mineral spirit, and wiped it on, it had a total of six coats.





The proof of the Pudding is in the eating (excuse the pun!) Tito loves his new table and now all his food gets eaten!
As to cost, because everything was already in stock, I can't give a firm price, and we work in Colombian pesos, but I would guess that all in, it was less than $10US.






Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/10736098/tito-s-table site