Live edge coffee table

[brianh]

A customer dropped off a maple log slice he had in his garage for the last 20 years and asked me to make a table.

I rought flattened it with a chainsaw then surfaced it on the cnc router as it was being surfaced I saw old tap marks from maple sugaring, pretty cool they are visible in the final finish.

legs are tenoned all the way through the mortise and tenons were cut on cnc.

I make extension bits by boring drill rod on a metal lathe and gluing the shank of the router bit in it with Cyanoacrylate been doing it for almost 20 years never had one come loose.

I usually spray most of my finishes but on this one I desided to use an oil base poly and wipe it on with a rag I cut the poly 50 percent so its a multi day process the last few coats are wet sanded with 600.
DSCN2279 by Brian Harnett, on Flickr

DSCN2639 by Brian Harnett, on Flickr

DSCN2638 by Brian Harnett, on Flickr


DSCN2637 by Brian Harnett, on Flickr

DSCN2669 by Brian Harnett, on Flickr

DSCN2679 by Brian Harnett, on Flickr

DSCN2682 by Brian Harnett, on Flickr

DSCN2718 - Copy by Brian Harnett, on Flickr

DSCN2722 - Copy by Brian Harnett, on Flickr

DSCN2726 by Brian Harnett, on Flickr

 

[Erampu]

Fantastic!

 

[turbowoodworker]

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

 

[pstnbly]

Apparently Sugar Maple, I see tap marks in it.

 

[FloydShine]

That turned out very nice! What did you do to the underside of the table? Did you apply finish to it, or leave it natural?

 

[brianh]

That turned out very nice! What did you do to the underside of the table? Did you apply finish to it, or leave it natural?

I put a few coats on the bottom it should be done for moisture rate absorption for humidity changes.

 

[NASTYZEN]

Beautiful table. That thing being as old as it is must be way hard.

 

[Tim Kennedy]

How you determine where to locate the mortises in the slab? Find center & measure or just eyeball after all the years of experience? Great piece -- around here this seems to be gaining ground as the thing to do with cutoffs.

 

[colt zantop]

Wow...turned out awesome!

 

[hobie1dog]

Great job, thanks for sharing this with us.

 

[brianh]

How you determine where to locate the mortises in the slab? Find center & measure or just eyeball after all the years of experience? Great piece -- around here this seems to be gaining ground as the thing to do with cutoffs.

I just eyeball it on this type of work.

Nastyzen yes sugar maple is very dense one of the hardest native woods we have.

 

[velocipede]

Very cool. The dog biscuit/butterfly shape of the mortises set it apart from a more conventional round, square or rectangular mortise. This is proof that not all cookies will crack badly during drying.

 

[royce]

Beautiful work sir

Royce

 

[ADSR]

Beautiful work sir

Royce

I agree! Very well done!

 

[The Cobbler]

nice !

 

[ajohno]

Looks great.

 

[red94chev]

That thing is beautiful, excellent craftsmanship!

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[ratdoggy]

That is just freaking gorgeous..I do have a couple slabs that Mrs. Ratdoggy wants to make into something...I love the legs on that

 

[Sticks McGee]

Any sanding to the edges? They looked rough prior to finish but they look beautiful finished.

Very nice work indeed..

 

[schor]

nice job.

 

[matt_i]

That is really incredible!

 

[1/2 Cup]

Real craftsmanship..

Regards

 

[dirt_dobber]

That is AWESOME!!! - beautiful job. Seriously love the joinery.

 

[brianh]

Any sanding to the edges? They looked rough prior to finish but they look beautiful finished.

Very nice work indeed..

Yes some of the edges I had to grind in a bit had some spongy rot, I soaked the softer spots with thinned out epoxy to harden them up then sanded it.

 

[SnowB0und]

I have a piece of wood and want to do something similar how do I find someone near me with a CNC set up to do this? Is there an old fashion way to do it? That turned out beautiful!

 

[brianh]

I have a piece of wood and want to do something similar how do I find someone near me with a CNC set up to do this? Is there an old fashion way to do it? That turned out beautiful!

Depending on your woodworking skills you can make templates and use a router that is what I used to do. I got my cnc in 2003 It really made a lot of my old tools obsolete.

You can make legs and drill though the top into the legs inserting a dowel for a nice looking through joint. Its easy looks good and strong

The bench in the pictures I used that technique just need a drill I used 1 inch dowel and a 1 inch spade bit for that bench.

I slot the dowel and use a contrasting wood for the wedge

IMG_1533 by Brian Harnett, on Flickr

IMG_1523 by Brian Harnett, on Flickr

IMG_1521 by Brian Harnett, on Flickr

 

[zak77]

That came out real nice. I made a small end table out of a slab of red oak that was originally going to go outside for a table but it turned out too nice to let the weather beat it up. I had an old wooden barrel kicking around so i made that the base and painted a checked board on it then finished it with some mineral oil. My next project is a sideboard table that'll be made out of rough cut lumber to look rustic. Got the tops and waiting on the guy to cut the rest.

 

[Tonellin]

Incredible

 

[ddawg16]

Love seeing good woodworking like that.

 

[brianh]

That came out real nice. I made a small end table out of a slab of red oak that was originally going to go outside for a table but it turned out too nice to let the weather beat it up. I had an old wooden barrel kicking around so i made that the base and painted a checked board on it then finished it with some mineral oil. My next project is a sideboard table that'll be made out of rough cut lumber to look rustic. Got the tops and waiting on the guy to cut the rest.

That was a good move, red oak rots pretty fast outside, white oak is great for outdoor furniture.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Super job on the maple table. Work of art that.

Phil

 

[fergus]

Real nice man.

 

[aka Larry]

Nice work man. It's hard to tell the scale from the pics. How big (dia) and thick is it? How much does it weigh? Looks like a beast!

 

[Dirtydan69]

Beautiful craftsman ship sir. What talent!!!

 

[brianh]

Nice work man. It's hard to tell the scale from the pics. How big (dia) and thick is it? How much does it weigh? Looks like a beast!

Its around 35 inches the top is 3.5 inches thick the whole table is 17 inches high
weight is around 60-70 lbs I am estimating. Not a table to walk into on the way to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

 

[jimreed2160]

Awesome project Brian. Can you explain the direction of the wedges? It looks like they might promote splitting as the wood moves.

 

[steel 35]

Thanks for the bit extension tip!

 

[brianh]

Awesome project Brian. Can you explain the direction of the wedges? It looks like they might promote splitting as the wood moves.

The wedges are not pounded in hard the legs are epoxied along with the wedges. They are more for looks.

 

[nine4gmc]

That's really nice!