DIY Industrial Spool Table

I realize that most of the world is moving indoors this season. Gosh, I even shared my fall home tour just two days ago… but it was all a facade. 😉  Here in this part of Texas, fall is the time of year that it’s finally cool enough to move outdoors.

If you follow me on instagram, you know that I recently obtained some amazing industrial spools, and here is project number one with these bad boys: a DIY industrial spool table. We’re going to enjoy this all. fall. long.

DIY Industrial Spool Table- Maison de Pax

I think these industrial spools are simply gorgeous, just the way they are. Just look at the weathered wood and industrial accents:

DIY Industrial Spool Table with a vase of hydrangeas- Maison de Pax

But we still had to do two things to make it practical as a table for our back patio. First, we needed to make it possible to push chairs up to the table. Even if we didn’t need to push the chairs in when the table was not in use (which we do – let’s face it, our back porch space is limited!), we have three young children. If they can’t push their chairs right up to the table, they end up wearing their food instead of eating it.

DIY Industrial Spool Table on patio- Maison de Pax

So we made the previously round base into an X base. To do so, we carefully measured the distance from the edge to the cylindrical center with a large square. Using that measurement, we marked on the bottom of the table four even corner cut outs.

DIY Industrial Spool Table with measurements- Maison de Pax

We also measured the distance from the guide on our circular saw to the blade and clamped a straight board in place to give us a straight cut.

How to make a DIY vintage wooden spool table- Maison de Pax

Here’s the key: Do NOT cut all the way to the point of your corners with the circular saw. It will not give you a straight cut. Cut 1 or 2 inches shy of the corner, then use a jigsaw or some other straight blade for the last little bit. This will give you a nice, clean corner.

How to make a DIY wooden spool table with DIY tutorial- Maison de Pax

We then repeated for the other mark and removed our “piece of pie.”

Love this project! How to make a table from an industrial spool via maisondepax.com #diy #outdoorliving #tutorial

After four of those, we were done!

How to make a DIY wooden spool table with DIY tutorial- Maison de Pax

The only other thing we did to make it usable was sand off any major splinters.

How to make a DIY wooden spool table with DIY tutorial- Maison de Pax

I’m still researching the best way to weatherproof our new table, but in the meantime, we’re enjoying how gorgeous it is.

How to make a DIY wooden spool table with DIY tutorial- Maison de Pax

I love the size…

How to make a DIY wooden spool table with DIY tutorial- Maison de Pax

The industrial elements…

How to make a DIY wooden spool table with DIY tutorial- Maison de Pax

And the perfectly weathered wood.

vase full of hydrangeas- Maison de Pax

Now the only question is: what will I do with the rest?

How to make a DIY wooden spool table with DIY tutorial- Maison de Pax

You’ll have to come back to see!

How to make a DIY wooden spool table with DIY tutorial- Maison de Pax

What do you think? Was this a DIY win?

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27 Comments

  1. I love this post 🙂 Those spools are to die for! Totally a DIY win. I am happy you explained in detail about the circular saw/jig saw combo to make a straight cut. Super handy!

  2. This is really cool Rachel- I have one of these on our dock, but I never thought of cutting the legs out like that!!

  3. Send the leftover spools to my house! I’ll put em to good use. 🙂 Great idea cutting the bottom to make it more of a pedestal! I’m always amazed at your ingenuity, Rachel.

  4. These are pretty cool! My hubby sees these all the time in his hometown. They have so much character! I had to chuckle when you revealed the picture of all the other ones! When you find great treasures….it’s all in or none at all! (You should see my garage) but, that is a whole other story!

    1. Isn’t that the truth, Michelle? My biggest complaint about our home is that we have no garage… but it’s probably a blessing in disguise! 😉

  5. So cute!! I’ve been wanting to get one of these and make it into a dessert table at our wedding!! Where could I get these spools?

    1. Thank you so much, Amanda! I found mine through an engineer friend who said they had some they were finished with at his work. I’ve heard of people finding them on the side of the road, too, but I might be worried that they could have some chemicals or something unsafe on them if you don’t have any knowledge of where they came from (my father is a chemist, so I’ve always been aware of that danger – he won’t let me use any of their discarded pallets and such!). You might try asking the people you know if anyone’s companies discards them. Also, you can always ask at Home Depot or Lowes; I’ve heard some people can score some there. Hope this helps!

  6. This turned out so amazing! I love that you didn’t have to stencil the words on; it’s beautiful just the way it is! And cutting out the bottom to make room for chairs was just brilliant! I’m a fairly new follower of yours, and I’m always inspired by your projects 🙂

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  8. Fantastic idea and execution. I’m going to model mine after yours! Question though – what size spool did you use? I have a line in on a 5′ diameter one but I’m wondering if that might be too big. BTW – for those looking, if you have a broadband cable company close by, they often have these stacked in their yard and would likely be glad to get rid of them, free of charge!

    1. Thanks, Scott! Mine is just over 3.5′ wide, so 5′ would be quite a large table. You could probably pull up plenty of chairs, though… If you’ve got the space, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! So glad you found the tutorial helpful!

  9. I like the use of a spool like this for a table. I’m making a picknic table from one. I’m curious if you changed the height of the table. I have a 48″ spool and the height is about 36″ which is a bit high for a standard chair or lawn chair as the table I’m making will be used in the back yard.

    1. Apologies for the delay. We did not change the height of our spool, but I think it was closer to 32″, so not quite has high as the one you have.

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