How to Build a DIY Twisty Table | 10 Years in the Making

Hey guys, it's Shara from Woodshop Diaries, and for this video, we're gonna throw it back to a project that I originally made 10 years ago. So way back when, when I was just getting started, I made what I'll call a twisty table. So I built this unique table using a single 1x8 board. It kind of went viral, and over the years, a lot of people have copied it, which is another story for another day. But at that time, I was just getting started with my blog, and so I wasn't making videos yet. I just shared the step-by-step instructions and the picture tutorial on my website. I had honestly forgotten about this project until a couple weeks ago. I had a few emails come in asking for tips on building it, and I realized I should probably revisit this project and rewrite the instructions to make them more clear, and I should also make a video to go with it. So if you're ready to make the original twisty table just 10 years after the fact, let's dive in and get building. This video is sponsored by Factor. I mentioned that I made this table from a single 1x8x8 board. You don't actually need a full eight-foot board. Six foot would probably be more than enough, and you don't have to use a 1x8 either. You could use pretty much any width board within reason. So if you wanted a wider table, feel free to use a wider board. First, I cut two pieces from my board to about the height that I wanted my table. The great thing about this project is that measurements are pretty much useless. You can cut these like 16 inches for a shorter table or 24 inches for a taller one. It really doesn't matter. For reference, I cut mine 22 inches long and then I marked the diagonal on each one. So these two pieces are gonna be cut into four triangles that will be used to make the twisted part of the table. So essentially what I'm gonna be doing is notching out a triangle shape the entire length of this diagonal. That way, once that's cut out, these pieces will kind of fold together to make one leg. So I'm gonna show you two different ways of doing that. One's with a circular saw and a straight edge and the other will be with a table saw and we'll have to make a jig. I wanted to cut my first leg with a circular saw, so I grabbed some scrap wood, placed my piece on it, adjusted my circular saw's bevel angle to 45 degrees. Then I clamped a straight edge to be able to run my saw along that would cut along the diagonal. This was the easy part. After making the first cut, the second one was a bit tricky. I ended up having to lift my straight edge up on some scrap blocks and I had to clamp my piece to the workbench. To keep the pointed part in place, I nailed some scrap blocks on each side. And once I double-checked that everything was properly positioned, I made my second cut. So now you can see how I cut like a triangle-shaped chunk down the diagonal of these pieces. So now they can fold together like this. So to run this one through the table saw, we're gonna be cutting the same thing, but in order to run it through the table saw, I need to build a jig. So I'm going to just take a scrap board. This doesn't have to be any specific width at all, I'm just trying to get it some distance away from the diagonal line. So I'm gonna clamp this board so that it's flush to the diagonal line and then I'll build the jig. I need these clamps to go the other way. Okay, so I've got a scrap piece of 3 1⁄4 inch plywood. So I'm gonna butt it up to this and then I need to trace the bottom side. After I traced my board onto the jig, I cut it out with a jigsaw. Then to help hold the piece in the jig, I drilled a couple of pocket holes along these cut edges. I secured the board into the jig and made sure that the screws weren't anywhere close to the diagonal line so that the blade wouldn't hit them when I cut. I adjusted my table saw bevel to 45 degrees, then adjusted the rip fence so that the blade would cut just along the diagonal line. But before cutting, I decided now would be a good time to take a lunch break. Working from home has always made lunchtime a bit of a struggle. I really hate meal prepping, so I was developing a bad habit of just grabbing a quick processed snack instead of eating an actual lunch. So I decided to give Factor a try. Factor is a meal delivery service that offers fresh, never frozen meals delivered right to your door. So no thawing, prep work, or mess. These meals are just ready to heat and enjoy right from the fridge. Factor offers 80 plus rotating weekly meals to choose from, including specific diet options like vegan, calorie smart, keto, high protein, and more. And they have so many flavor options from Tex-Mex to Mediterranean, so you can prioritize your own health goals and taste preferences when you're making your selections. The prepared portion controlled meals make it easy to keep track of my protein and calorie goals each day. Head to factor75.com or click the link below and use code SharaFB50 to get 50% off plus free breakfast for one year. That's SharaFB50 at factor75.com to get 50% off plus free breakfast for one year. Now that my lunch break is over, it's time to head back to the shop. So my table saw is set up and now I need to cut. The piece attached to the jig is the first quote unquote good piece. So after cutting, I removed it and secured the off cut piece into the jig. Then I repeated to make a second cut. Full transparency, my rip fence really should have been adjusted just a tad closer to the blade. So the edge on my piece here isn't super sharp, but that's okay. Now that I have four triangles cut, I've brad nailed them together in pairs to make two legs. I could have, probably should have, glued the corners here, but nails alone will hold really well, especially if you're nailing from both directions. Now I need to trim the ends at a slight bevel. Luckily, we don't have to figure out what this bevel angle is. I just set my piece into the miter saw like you see here and I kept my miter and bevel angles both set to zero. Then I just barely trimmed off the end. I repeated for both ends on both legs and now I just need to cut and attach the top and bottom of the table. Again, no need to measure anything here either. I just set my legs up on the remaining piece of my one by eight board and adjusted them so that they were flat on the bottom and were almost touching in the center where they twist. Then I just marked my board on the edge of the leg and cut at this line. I nailed this piece into each leg and again, could have, maybe should have glued it. Then I flipped it over and added another piece of one by eight, the exact same size on the top. After nailing in place, I decided to come back and drill some holes to add four countersunk wood screws on the top and the bottom. I glued in some dowels to fill these holes and after they were dry, I flush cut them and sanded it smooth before staining. And now this unique little twisty table is finished and ready for use as a plant stand, a tiny side table, or just a fun conversation piece to wow your guests with. It was a lot of fun to revisit making this piece and I hope you enjoyed watching it come together. If you can't wait to see plenty more new and some old DIY project videos, be sure to subscribe to the channel because as always, I've got plenty more to share soon. But until then, thanks so much for watching friends and happy building.