Leaving the Nest - Egg Table Final Update

I thought I'd post one final update to the construction of the table for my large Big Green Egg. We finally got the BGE placed in the table and cooked on it for the first time. And it's awesome!

Here's a shot of the BGE in it's final resting place:



In an earlier post, I talked about some of the finishing touches.  We did run into one snag.  If you notice in the photo, the paver that the BGE is sitting on is not flush as was intended.  We discovered that the spring hinges on the dome actually rotate downward slightly when opening the lid and we hadn't allowed enough clearance for this.  So we had to make accomodations for that by raising the egg slightly by inserting slats under the paver. 

Favorite parts:

• having an "electric" table
• grilling light
• huge work surface

Things to consider next time:

• possibly use larger casters
• consider where to store the platesetter (I'm thinking a wire shelf suspended under the bottom shelf would work great)

All in all, I think it turned out really well.  I have to give special thanks to Zino & Davidhoff for all their help.  Without them, I would have probably just bought the BGE table or thrown together something that wouldn't have been nearly as nice as this table.

Are you building a table or cart for your Egg or other cooker?  Drop us a comment and let us know how it turns out.

Cheers,
Braddog

Leaving the Nest - Egg Table Construction Part 5

If you've been following along, you know that the table has taken shape mostly from materials that were already at hand. This includes some of the "finishing touches" that I talked about in a previous post.  The finishing touch that I'll talk about today is another of those that sprouted from things we had lying about.

If you're like me, you often find yourself cooking overnight.  Now I haven't invested in a Stoker or a Guru (yet), so I will typically check the cooker throughout the night.  This drives the need for illumination.  So we decided that this table should be wired for electricity.  This would allow us to mount a hardwired grill light and electrical outlets that will someday accomodate one of the aforementioned fire control devices, an electric knife, etc.

I ordered a permanently mountable grill light from the good folks at Amazon.  Zino had an all weather recepticle and the necessary wire, conduit, and the like.  So here's what we came up with.

Power cord for the table - just plug in an extension cord

All-weather electrical outlets

Illumination for overnight cooking
So as you can see, the table is done with the exception of installing the BGE.  We're ready to roll this bad boy outside and start using it.  I'll update the project one more time when we get the cooker installed and let you know how it turns out.

Cheers,
Braddog

Leaving the Nest - Egg Table Construction Part 4

We're coming down the home stretch on the construction of the table for my Big Green Egg. The framing is complete and now we're finishing the lower & top shelves. The hard part of the top shelf is cutting the giant circle for BGE to sit in. So we installed most of the top decking but only the middle board on the end where the Egg will sit. This was simply for an anchor point to be able to draw the circle.

Getting ready to draw the circle

And here we are with the whole cut for the Egg.

Now that's a big hole!

We also framed a spot to insert a ceramic tile work surface.

Top shelf framing

We're getting close to wrapping up the project.  All we have left are the finishing touches.  Hopefully I'll be able to provide pics of the finished product in the next post.

Cheers,
Braddog

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Leaving the Nest - Egg Table Construction Part 3

Construction continues on the table for my Big Green Egg.  I've looked at tons of tables built by other users and the ones that I like the most are the ones with what I'll call "finishing touches".  So, Davidoff, Zino & I decided that we were going to focus on really finishing this thing off nicely.

One of the areas that we decided needed a finishing touch, is the lower shelf where the BGE will sit.  Since the bottom of the BGE gets hot when in use (duh!), it's important to have a non-flammable material between it and the wooden table.  Now most folks accomplish this with a landscape paver, ceramic tile, etc.  and our plan is no different.  However, we decided that the table would look much nicer if we inset the paver into the bottom shelf rather than simply place it on top of the shelf.  Let's face it, landscape pavers look great on a patio but they're not much to look at as a piece of furniture.

Here's the "finishing touch" that we came up with for this feature.

Frame & Bracing for Paver

Paver inset

Flush mounted paver

So the BGE will sit on a flush mounted paver.  I like this finishing touch.  Stay tuned for more udpates on our progress.

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Cheers,
Braddog

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