How To Make A DIY Pour Over Coffee Stand
In this video, I show you how to build a simple, beautiful pour over coffee stand using minimal tools. This DIY woodworking project is a perfect gift for the coffee lover in your life! I built the stand from reclaimed redwood, but if you don't have access to a jointer or planer, you could just as easily buy pre-milled lumber. Let's get building!
Tools Used In The Pour Over Coffee Stand Build:
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- DEWALT DW735X 13" Two-Speed Planer : http://amzn.to/2bzfbiQ
- Bosch ROS65VC-6 Random Orbit Sander : http://amzn.to/2aWHSDR
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- INCRA Miter Express Miter Gauge : http://amzn.to/2c8GkWi
Pour Over Coffee Stand Build Process
I decided to use some more of the old redwood fencing my dad had given me for this build, so the first step was milling the wood to size. If you don’t have access to a jointer, planer, or table saw, you could just was easily buy pre-milled lumber from your local home center and make the cuts with a miter saw, circular saw, or even a hand saw. If you’re going to purchase pre-milled lumber, you’ll want to buy 1x6 stock.
Once my wood was milled down, I made my cuts at the table saw on my crosscut sled. The measurements on your pour over coffee stand is really flexible, and will depend on the type of mug you’d like to use. I measured the largest mug I use for my coffee and came up with an inner dimension of 5” square. I cut the first two pieces at 6 ½” inches, since they need to be a bit longer to account for the width of the side pieces, and then cut the side pieces at 5”.
Next, I found the center of one of the 6 ½” pieces by drawing diagonal lines from each corner, and then drilled a small pilot hole in the center. This pilot hole will help to guide the Forstner bit. Before drilling a hole with a Forstner bit of this size, 2” in this case, you need to lower the RPM of your drill press or hand drill. Once you’ve set your RPM, drill the hole. I like to go halfway through on one side, then flip the piece and complete the hole from the other side. This really helps prevent blowout, and the pilot hole we drilled earlier is perfect for this.
To assemble the stand, I just used drywall screws and glue. I marked my hole placement for the screws, as I wanted to plug the holes with a contrasting oak dowel to add some accents to the final piece. I drilled the holes to full depth using a ⅜” countersink bit and drove in the 1 ¼” screws. Also, these right angle clamps are really helpful here.
On the bottom of the stand, I wanted to add some feet. I found these little oak plug buttons at my local home center, but the diameter of the plug was ½”, so I needed to make the ⅜” holes I drilled before a little bigger on the bottom. Unfortunately, when I went to expand the hole, I was met with a bunch of tearout. Redwood is an extremely soft wood, and this hole is really close to the edge, so tearout was unavoidable. I decided to just drill some ½” holes closer to the center of the stand, away from the edge, and this worked out fine. I just eyeballed placement of the holes.
Next, I needed to sand the inside surfaces before assembly. Unfortunately, the pieces were too small to use with my random orbit sander, so I was left to sand by hand. I worked my way through the grits, starting at 80 grit, moving to 120 grit, then finishing with 180 grit.
After sanding, I assembled the stand using glue and screws. I added clamps just to help close up any gaps and left the glue to dry.
While the glue was drying, I cut small pieces from a ⅜” oak dowel to be used as plugs. I used my Veritas Carcass Saw for this, a tool I absolutely love using. The saw is filed for crosscutting and made quick work of the dowel. I sanded the edges of the plugs lightly, just to aid in the fit, and then glued them in. Make sure to pound the plugs in with a mallet to make sure they’re fully seated.
After the glue dried, I cut the plugs flush with a flush-cut saw, and then it was time for final sanding. Again, I worked my way through the grits, making sure any deeper marks were removed with the 80 grit sandpaper before moving on. To sand the inside of the hole, I used sandpaper wrapped around a dowel.
I rounded over the edges of the stand using an ⅛” radius roundover bit after sanding with 120 grit, and then finished the sanding process with 180 grit. The roundover bit doesn’t reach the inside corners of the piece, so make sure to tidy those up by hand.
I attached the feet with 5-minute epoxy and again used a mallet to make sure they were fully seated. I let them dry for about 20 minutes before moving on to finishing.
I used a semi-gloss spray polyurethane finish for this project, and I’ve been really satisfied with my results from this finish lately. Spray on a few thin coats, let dry for 20 minutes, recoat, and repeat. No need to sand in between coats, as the finish levels itself extremely well, and on small projects like this, I find spray can finishes much more convenient. Once finish is applied, the pour over coffee stand is complete.