9" deep shadowbox coffee table

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dpetti

dpetti

PFG, Picture Framing God
In Memorium
Rest In Peace

Gone but not forgotten
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Posts
5,758
Loc
Valdosta, GA
I know, I know.. it's not a picture frame. I had a glass table top lying around and decided to make a table to display my 1953 Doepke Model Toys Adams motor grader. I received it for Christmas when I was four years old and I graded many, many miles of roads with it when I was a kid.

The blackened spot on the seat may or may not have been caused by a plastic action figure unexpectedly catching fire. Anyway, I think it's a pretty cool table and it is certainly one of a kind.
gradertable1.jpg
 
Way cool!!! Somewhere I have a big yellow Tonka grader still in its box. I think I got it or was going to get it for a present and then I probably gave my parents a reason to put it up on a shelf. :) It was found a few years after that and I was beyond the age of wanting to play with such things.
 
Wow, Don - beautiful - and I love the juxtaposition of the smooth glowing new wood and the dusty old grader on gravel. PERFECT!!! It rocks!
 
Thanks, guys. I found the beaded wood in the cull bin at HD for .50 a stick (3' to 4' long) and thought, "I really like that look. What can I build with it?" First was a headboard for my guest bed..

It was the classic "the first fix is on us." The next thing you know I am a regular at HD. Luckily, it's only blocks from my new house.

Now I have to build a TV stand to match the table. I think I will use the beaded wood when I redo my kitchen cabinet doors, too.
 
WOW!!!!!!

<bowing in the shadow of your awesomeness>
 
Very cool!

:popc:
 
Framar said:
Wow, Don - beautiful - and I love the juxtaposition of the smooth glowing new wood and the dusty old grader on gravel. PERFECT!!! It rocks!
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Thanks so much, Mar. I actually scrubbed down the grader with a toothbrush and some Fantastic before I put it in the table. I guess it is just too dirty to ever get clean again! I did refrain from using Armor All on the tires. It does look "vintage." It was well used -- it was my favorite toy ever, and somehow I managed to hang on to it for a long time and many moves. I am glad I did. Lots of memories are attached to that old motor grader.

The photo using the flash is a little harsh - the table looks much better in natural light. Everyone who has seen it has raved about how cool it is and I am pretty tickled with it myself. It is definitely a conversation piece.
 
Jackson... that ROCKS!!!

We had US Steel (Penn?) trucks and motor grader when I was a kid. We gave them away
when we moved once.... and got them back years later. Somewhere I got the three tires
that needed replacement, and then powder-painted the bodies, and a friend painted logos
and such on them. And we gave them to another family in the Forest Service with small
boys. The folks got Christmas cards from the new families as they were passed on and on.
Then one year it just all stopped. In the mid 1980s, my dad got a box.... it was the 1950
Chevy pickup. Red. There was no return address. I think my grand nephews are blowing
it up now.... :D Good luck boys..... it aint a cheapassed Tonka made in China.
 
That's a keeper, Don.:thumbsup:
I might have to steal that idea and use it myself.
 
That looks totally awesome!!! And I love the non-story about the black spot!

But I am kinda sad that this heavy duty grader is locked in his garage forever. Aren't there some nice rutted roads that need work? :icon21:

edie the butmaybeitdeservesabreakafterall goddess
 
I was thinking the same thing, it fells kind of trapped. :(
 
Nah, I don't think it is trapped; no more than any car in any garage - but this garage has a skylight!!! I think it looks very happy in its new home. :thumbsup:
 
Framing Goddess said:
That looks totally awesome!!! And I love the non-story about the black spot!

But I am kinda sad that this heavy duty grader is locked in his garage forever. Aren't there some nice rutted roads that need work? :icon21:

edie the butmaybeitdeservesabreakafterall goddess
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My grandson is far too busy with electronic toys, baseball, football, and "ahem" winning the National Championship in his weight class in wrestling to play with this antique. And I am a bit creaky for crawling around in the dirt these days.

FrameMakers said:
I was thinking the same thing, it fells kind of trapped. :(
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What Mar said below..

Framar said:
Nah, I don't think it is trapped; no more than any car in any garage - but this garage has a skylight!!! I think it looks very happy in its new home. :thumbsup:
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j Paul said:
Just lift up the glass to play. :D

Looks good.
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That's why I didn't rout the top out and lay the glass in.. I want to be able to remove the glass and take the grader out and/or maybe add other relics. At least it isn't stashed away in a dusty garage like it has been for far too many years. I think it's happy to be on display. And everyone who has seen the table has been suitably impressed. Thanks for the kind comments; building that table brought back a lot of memories and it was a labor of love. :thumbsup:
 
Love it! I like the thought of someone walking over, peering in and seeing it.
Like it's been digging it's way down into that spot.
 
Ylva said:
I absolutely love it Don!!!!! Great idea and even greater outcome.
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shayla said:
Love it! I like the thought of someone walking over, peering in and seeing it.
Like it's been digging it's way down into that spot.
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Thanks! I liked the table so much I had to build a TV stand to match. It looks much better than the thrift shop one I had been using. :thumbsup:
 
shayla said:
Like it's been digging it's way down into that spot.
Click to expand...

Maybe you could put a little pile of gravel at one end so it looks like it is still digging. :thumbsup:
 
I intend to do something like that, Mar. I'm going to make the gravel smooth behind the blade and sort of piled up in front. I have to wash and dry some more gravel.. the bag I bought was full of wet dirt & sand.
 
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