DIY Maple Slab Coffee Table

We try and keep our posts on DDS focused on  yard and garden topics.  Though you might say a DIY coffee table does not fall into the general scheme I will attempt to justify my DIY coffee table post as follows: 1.  Technically the Maple Slab came from a yard (my parent's actually) and it is indeed organic. 2.  The ground is frozen making time spent digging in the yard more challenging right now!

Though a natural coffee table is not everybody's style I am very pleased at how it all turned out.

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Several year's ago Dad had to take down a large Maple Tree in his back yard that was diseased and beginning to rot.  I requested a hunk of wood be saved  to be reborn as some form of furniture.  Dad chainsawed me two eight inch slabs from the base of the trunk where the tree "v"d into two.  The slabs then sat in my garage getting in the way for several years, drying and curing while I procrastinated from starting to work on them.  Finally last year I started to literally chip away at the project, first planing off the deep rough chainsaw cuts with a power planer. I then used an orbital grinder, starting with an 80 grit sand paper and working up to a fine 240 grit.  Finally, I gave it a coat of Beeswax polish (Clapham's Beeswax Salad Bowl Finish).  The legs were pre-cut and threaded galvanized pipe from a big box store that I just screwed together with half inch fittings in the plumbing aisle and then spray painted black.  My HH helped me with the tricky part of attaching the legs to a very unlevelled underside which involved much shimming  (this is adding little wedge pieces to level out the leg where it is to be attached).  Overall this project cost less than $30 for the galvanized pipe legs and spray paint.  Shannon loaned me the beeswax which is about $16, though I had to promise not to use too much. 

 

 One winter project off the list!

-L.