XL Big Green Egg Table

Video - May 8, 2020

The only thing I love more than woodworking is barbecue and my favorite way to cook it is on a kamado grill. After I got my XL Big Green Egg, I just had to build a stand worthy of it. Made from Sapele, this stand is beefy enough to take the substantial weight of a large ceramic grill and then some. The cloud lifts in the rails hint at Greene & Greene influence and take the humble BGE Table to a whole new level. I designed the table specifically for an XL Big Green Egg but you can certainly adapt it to any size or brand kamado you like. I also made sure the stand is compatible with the protective covers Big Green Egg makes for their own tables. If you want to make your own XL Big Green Egg Table, check out our plan and templates.

Stuff I Used:

Discussion

Mike Harlan May 8, 2020 4:49 pm

I really like this table. Can you give me an idea of lumber cost and where to get the lumber?

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo May 8, 2020 6:42 pm
  
  Wood can cost anywhere from free to $40/bf or more, so I can’t give you a meaningful estimate. But I can tell you how much material the project requires and you can call around locally for estimates. 15 BF of 4/4, 30 BF of 6/4, and 9 BF of 8/4. It shouldn’t be hard to adapt the plan to dimensional lumber if you need a more budget-friendly option. If you don’t have any decent lumber dealers in your area, check out Bell Forest Products. They have a robust mail order setup.
  
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Steve Cuthbert May 14, 2020 2:30 pm

Marc I hate you! Not really, I simply would like to make stuff as beautiful as you do and as quickly. I mean you made the Green Egg stand in less than 17 minutes. HOW DO YOU DO IT? Kidding aside I want to ask you about the work-ability of the Sepele. I’ve had since 2018 90 bf of rough Sepele lumber in my shop to make a Greene and Greene inspired bed frame and I wonder if there is anything I need to be careful of while shaping the pieces? IE, hazardous or toxic dust, special edged bits or blades etc. Yes, that’s a long time to have the material hanging around but life has been in the way. Now I’m ready to get going on it after seeing this video because you are very inspiring. Also what finish would you recommend for a bed frame of this material? Thanks for your time. Steve

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Claude Ray May 14, 2020 6:07 pm

great work Marc. I found you on amazon prime video and i love the shows. I am watching the 14 seasons for the third time and love it. I have learned a lot about finishing thanks to you. keep it up and take care.
thank you.

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo May 15, 2020 7:42 am
  
  Thanks Claude! That’s awesome to hear!
  
  Reply
Dan May 20, 2020 9:46 am

Hi Marc,

Do you have any information on a good outdoor finish? I read your old article here, but I was wondering if you have any new ideas:
https://thewoodwhisperer.com/v.....or-finish/

I’m planning out a similar project for a grill but I’m concerned about all the rain we get here in Oregon.

Thanks!

Reply
Paul June 9, 2020 8:55 am

Marc,

Do you think using cedar would work with these plans? Would the joints be strong enough with the softer wood to support the weight of the grill?

Curious if the plans would be good to use as is, need modification, or avoid cedar altogether.

Thanks,

Paul

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo June 12, 2020 8:23 am
  
  I think there’s enough inherent strength here that cedar would work. It wouldn’t be my first pick, but I do think it would hold up. That’s just a somewhat educated guess, however, and I have no real way of knowing for sure.
  
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Alberto López June 23, 2020 11:47 am

Hi Marc, I really like the table, I was watching the video and but I could’t understand the kind of wood you used. Do you have any suggestion of what alternatives of good I have.

thanks
Alberto

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo June 23, 2020 11:58 am
  
  Anything that will hold up outdoors: Cedar, Teak, Cypress, Mahogany, or even white oak.
  
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Jacob Wear July 1, 2020 1:26 pm

You limited the number of downloads on this project, now I can’t access the plans I paid for to finish the project. Any way you could grant me access to them again?

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo July 1, 2020 2:56 pm
  
  We allow 10 downloads per file. Was something wrong that you had to download it that many times? If you download to your hard drive, you can keep the file and reference it as many times as you like. I did enable more downloads for you but if there’s something wrong with the system, let me know.
  
  Reply
  - Jacob Wear July 1, 2020 5:37 pm
    
    It was user error on my part, as is most often the case. Thanks for your quick response. I’m looking forward the the finished product.
    
    Reply
Bill Hammond August 28, 2020 8:48 pm

Looks awesome, are you selling kits?

Reply
Corey Pelton October 23, 2020 4:43 pm

Heya Marc!

I had to buy 8/4 for 6/4, as 6/4 was unavailable. I milled the rails and aprons to down to 6/4, but I stopped milling the bottom slats at 1 5/8″ Do you foresee this causing any issues? I’ll be using the domino XL for joinery. My kamado is also about 100 pounds heavier than the Green Egg XL, so my thought was the thicker slats might be beneficial.

Thanks!

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo October 25, 2020 9:33 am
  
  Yeah I think you’re probably better off keeping the additional thickness. As long as they are secured into a nice beefy set of rails, you should be good to go.
  
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Mike November 5, 2020 2:54 pm

Marc, Not sure I understand your concern about heat given that BGE sells a table that is almost identical to what you built and the BGE sits in its own stand like yours? I have the XL with their table and have used it to 700+ degrees with no issues. Not even sure the table under the egg gets very warm at all.

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo November 5, 2020 4:06 pm
  
  My concern is based on an overabundance of caution. I have put my hand around and under the egg and it absolutely gets unbearably hot. I have also seen examples of their tables burning down. I have no specific knowledge of the circumstances surrounding those events but they happened nonetheless. Could be a gradual weakening of the material from long-term high heat exposure. Could be a wayward ember one “hyper-dried” wood. Could be bad luck. But when building something like this and encouraging people to use the design, it’s not a bad idea for me to encourage folks to use their judgement and to employ additional safety measures if they determine them to be necessary.
  
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Carl December 18, 2020 9:50 am

Hey Marc,

I’ve been searching the net for good instruction for a grill cart build. This is by far the best guide.

I have been wanting to get into wood working, and this seems like a good starting project.

My question: I do not have a jointer or planer. Do you have any recommendations for doing this project with those pieces of equipment?

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo December 18, 2020 12:58 pm
  
  Buy your stock pre-milled. Many lumber places have milling services that you can take advantage of.
  
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Jeff Smick December 27, 2020 11:43 am

Hey Marc, I’ve been building a slight variation of this table after buying your plans. It’s been a fun build and looking great. The link to the table brackets doesn’t seem to work anymore. Do you have another source or another bracket type you’d recommend?

Thanks!

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Daniel Stutterheim February 23, 2021 8:07 am

Hey Marc, thanks for the plans, the build is going well so far. Im not sure if i was doing something wrong but the template for the aprons seemed wrong, they were tapered down on the top as well as the bottom meaning there would be a gap between the table top and the apron in the middle of the apron which wasnt on your build. Eitherway i got it sorted but just wasnt sure if this was meant to be or not.

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- Marc Spagnuolo February 23, 2021 8:21 am
  
  The video explains why that is. It’s very intentional. :)
  
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  - Daniel Stutterheim February 24, 2021 12:41 am
    
    Doh, i have watched the video 3 times as well. I went back and now it makes perfect sense, thanks Marc. Im making it as a wedding present for my friend.
    
    Reply
John Newton March 16, 2021 5:43 am

Hi! I bought your plans and templates and made an identical table for a neighbor’s XL, using sapele. I was able to get 3×3 true for legs, so they’re solid and tapered. This weekend, he put his BGE in it and tried to move it. I used the same inserts and casters you did. He was moving it with the XL in it, and as soon as he hit a dip between pavers, the casters bent back in the holes at almost 45 deg angle he said. In othe words, the stem (3″?) bolt up inside the hole did not hold the caster true vertical. He doesn’t think that the legs split, but now the inserts in the holes are surely messed up.
I need to figure out some other way to reinforce these legs and use different casters (flush mount on bottom of leg), or make some other kind of platform for the table to sit in, or ??? I guess the larger diameter hole drilled for tapping the inserts leaves enough room for the stem of the caster to move in that they started to tilt within the holes.
I have wondered about filling the holes solid with epoxy or something, and then trying to drill and re-tap the holes in the 1/2-13 thread and screw the caster stems straight back into the leg.
Any ideas greatly appreciated, thanks

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo March 16, 2021 8:57 am
  
  Hey John. Sorry to hear about this. I think you’re on the right track for the repair. Repairing with epoxy and then finding the size tap that matches the threads of the casters seems like a reasonable thing to try before going to something more drastic. The trick with this design is I really wanted to avoid the boxy look we see in so many BGE tables. I know big beefy legs are obviously more sturdy but I really wanted to aim for something more elegant. My back patio is brick and thankfully I haven’t experienced what your friend did, but that only represents one data point. So I appreciate the heads up. For the alternatives, you might be able to find a caster that fits directly on the end of the leg but I fear the diameter would be pretty small, making the table even harder to move. And building some kind of mobile base for it sounds pretty undesirable too. One other alternative is to use workbench casters, like this: https://amzn.to/2OuopkL Not ideal because they would create something of a trip hazard and wouldn’t look terrific, but they would probably work.
  
  Reply
  - John “Fig” Newton March 16, 2021 10:01 am
    
    Marc, thanks for the quick reply. With the taper on the legs, don’t think we could mount the workbench casters sufficiently. I think I’ll look to see if there is an internally-threaded longer sleeve that would work like several inserts in line that could be driven or epoxied into the leg so that the stem bolt would have greater support. Something like a threaded rod connector. Will get back to you!
    
    Reply
Fig Newton March 16, 2021 12:24 pm

These were the only long (4″) threaded connectors in the size to match the casters that I could find:
https://www.zoro.com/zoro-sele.....ifications
Most were only 1 3/4 inch. I’m thinking 1) remove the inserts, 2) drill the legs 7/8 dia as deep as the connectors, and then 3) epoxy them in place in the leg. That way, the caster stem is supported its full length, and the connector is solid deep into the leg. This should be stronger than filling and re-tapping the holes in the legs, I think.

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo March 16, 2021 4:12 pm
  
  Yeah I agree. Let me know how it works out.
  
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John Newton March 24, 2021 12:18 pm

Mission completed. Probably overkill using the 4 inch long connectors, but it should be super strong. Cut blocks to drive down into the original holes after taking out the inserts. That gave me a center point capability for re-drilling. Used my 1″ Forstner bit to get down as far as possible, then went deeper with a 1″ spade bit. This was the perfect diameter for the points of the connector flats to go in. Coated the connector with epoxy as I was pushing it in (helpful to have 2 people and use a 1/2 inch bolt in the top as a “handle” while inserting. Once cured, seems super-strong. The caster stem bolts will probably fail now if anything does. Given the length of the caster stems, cutting the connectors down to 2 or 3 inch might be strong enough, but the XLs are SO heavy, doesn’t hurt to bury the whole 4″ in the legs. If I make another one, this is what I will do, and will drill for the connectors vertically in my drill press prior to assembly. Cheers! Fig

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo March 24, 2021 4:21 pm
  
  Nothing wrong with a little overkill on something like this. Sorry you had to go down this path but I’m glad to hear you came up with a more robust solution.
  
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Shannon Tyler March 27, 2021 6:40 am

Marc, just got the plans and template and am excited about starting the build! I will be adapting the plans for my Large BGE to replace the failing BGE table it’s on now.

Is it acceptable to use mortis and tenon for the slat joinery instead of dominos/dowels? I didn’t want to go the pocket screw route since I like the idea of not using mechanical connectors, which my current table has a ton of. I don’t have a Domino tool so I want to make sure I have a strong alternative for the joinery.

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo March 27, 2021 7:54 am
  
  True mortise and tenon joints are considered stronger than the equivalent Domino joint, so yes. :)
  
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XL Big Green Egg Table

XL Big Green Egg Table Templates

XL Big Green Egg Table Plans

Stuff I Used:

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