Cable Reel Side Table — Tiled Top & Vertical Timber Panel Sides

Wooden cable reel

1 reel, sound and dry — measure and record [MEASURE: top disc diameter] and [MEASURE: drum height between the two discs] (the table body)

20

Sanding discs / sheets

Assorted 80, 120 and 180 grit to fit your sander (cleaning back weathered timber)

8

Exterior wood filler

1 tub, 250 g, natural/pine tone (filling splits and old nail holes in the discs)

8

Wood hardener or exterior PVA primer

500 ml (stabilising any soft or punky patches of reel timber) — only needed if the screwdriver test in Step 1 finds soft timber; skip if the reel is sound

10

Timber offcuts for packing

A few scraps of 6–18 mm exterior ply (shimming the top face flat if it is dished)

5

Planed timber battens

Square-edge PAR softwood or treated redwood, 80 mm wide × 18 mm thick, cut to [MEASURE: drum height]. Quantity = (top disc diameter in mm × 3.14) ÷ 80 mm, rounded up, plus 4 spares (the vertical drum cladding)

5

Exterior wood adhesive

1 × 300 ml polyurethane or D4 exterior glue (bonding battens to the curved drum)

10

Stainless steel brad nails or panel pins

1 box, 30 mm long (pinning each batten while the glue cures)

8

Exterior flexible caulk

1 × 300 ml cartridge, natural/oak tone (closing fine seams between battens)

6

Clear pale decking oil

1 × 750 ml tin, natural/clear (first and second coats on all timber)

20

Exterior plywood or cement board

1 sheet piece, 12 mm exterior ply or 6 mm cement board, cut to a disc of [MEASURE: top disc diameter] (flat, sound tiling substrate)

8

Stainless steel countersunk screws

30 × 4.0 × 40 mm (fixing the substrate disc down to the reel top)

7

Brick-format porcelain tiles

Frost-resistant, approx. 50 × 25 mm, pale cream/stone tone — enough for the top area (3.14 × radius²) plus 20% for cuts (the tabletop surface)

35

Flexible exterior tile adhesive

1 × 5 kg bag or tub, S1 flexible, suitable for timber substrates — covers roughly 1 m² at 6 mm notch; buy 2 bags if the top disc is over 1 m² (bedding the tiles)

16

Tile spacers

1 bag, 2 mm cross spacers (keeping the grout lines even)

3

Fine-grain exterior grout

1 × 2.5 kg bag, pale buff or off-white, frost-resistant (filling the joints)

12

Grout haze remover

500 ml, tile-safe (clearing the cement film off the tile faces)

10

Exterior grout sealer

250 ml impregnating sealer — apply only after the grout has fully cured (check the grout bag; typically 24–72 hours) (weatherproofing the grout lines)

11

Lint-free cloths

Pack of 5 (applying oil and buffing off surplus)

4