Reclaimed Basketball Wood Dining Table Progress

Remember when I found these awesome sheets of basketball flooring that was being thrown away? No? Well that's ok because it was months ago and I haven't said much about them since!

My idea is to turn them into a dining room table; they are solid maple so I thought it would be pretty cool to make something like these:

I had lofty visions of at least getting the tops finished then weld the bases later; after Tiny Falcon #2 is born. Well... I'm due in 2 weeks and that has not happened. We don't necessarily need a dining room table but I did need Con-Man's Big Boy Room finished, and finish the new nursery (pics next week!). And the fact that they limited the hours in the wood shop on base (thanks a lot government cut backs!!!) I haven't had the time I thought I would to get these bad boys in shape. 

But here's what I've been doing with them in the meantime.

The first thing is taking them sheets apart. Each one is 5' x 5' and I need them broken down in order to sand and prep them for their final table top status. I knew it would be a pain but geeze...

They are held together in the back by planks of wood nailed to the maple. Lots of nails.

Neither I nor my friend who works in the wood shop could figure out an easy way to take them out. The nails are curved inside the wood so a regular hammer wouldn't take them out. So I had to snap the sharp ends off with a metal cutter. Fun times.

Once the pointy part of the nails were gone little nubs were left behind which I have to grind down further.

After all that I started sanding the finish off. I was going to use the planer for this but with the nails still in the wood it could have ruined the machine- so sanding it was.

So this:

Becomes this:

Which eventually becomes this:

And leads to this: arms covered in saw dust making me look even paler than I am.

Pretty much all the wood has been sanded down. The next step is getting all the gunk off the edges. It's a mix of dust, dirt, and glue. Gross. I've been scraping it off down piece by piece.

I probably won't be finished when I originally wanted but it's a good start. I'm thinking I can squeeze in 1 or 2 more work days before my due date. Who knows- maybe I'll even be able to glue some slabs together!

Have you ever had a project put on hold?