Once you get a taste of sourcing great materials, it quickly becomes a habit. My second trip to The Useful Wood Company in mid-2025 resulted in a rather quirky find: two decent-sized MDF boards that happened to be spray-painted bright pink! I bought them on a whim without a clear plan, but they soon became the foundation for my next major challenge—replicating a mid-century retro record table design I had fallen in love with online.

The curved silhouette of the tabletop immediately called for a tool I didn’t yet own. I scoured Gumtree for an affordable second-hand jigsaw (picking up a few other workshop tools in the bargain, which I’ll detail in a future post) and ordered a set of blades from Amazon.

My initial thought was simply to strip off the pink paint and refinish the MDF with a wood stain. Then I recalled a key lesson from Marcus during my beginner training: MDF is actually the ideal substrate for timber veneering. That single memory launched hours of YouTube research into veneering techniques, sourcing, and glues. I ordered sheets of American Black Walnut veneer and drove headfirst into the build.

To say it was a steep learning curve would be an understatement! I made almost every beginner mistake in the book—imperfect jigsaw cuts, using the wrong adhesive, struggling through seam jointing, glue leaks and battling fragile veneer splinters. Yet, through sheer patience and iteration, the piece finally came together.

The real irony? The whole project started because my daughter had asked for a record player for her birthday. Instead, I spent weeks in the workshop and managed to present her with a bespoke record table… without the actual record player! To this day, it remains a hilarious point of contention and a running joke in our household. The table currently sits in our home holding a stack of file holders, serving as a constant, stylish reminder of a proud woodworking achievement—and a father’s slightly mismatched gift execution!