Coffee Table from Old Cypress Tree
It took long enough. Part procrastination, part ignorance, and part waiting for Home Depot to deliver my table legs, but it's finally done. I am happy with the final product. It was hard finding resources dumbed-down enough for me to understand, so here is a brief idiot's procedure to making one.
Step one--Get yourself a nice cross-section of a tree. I got this one (about 4 inches thick) when the tree-cutting people chopped down a very, very old cypress tree. If you visit a tree-cutter, and if you're nice to them, they will cut one for you. Giving them a little money helps. Forgive me, but I recently deleted a ton of photos....I think the photo of this wood freshly cut was a casualty of the purge.
Step two--Let the wood dry. There are kilns available to speed this process, but I used the Texas sun and procrastination. I'm not sure how long it takes for wood to dry naturally, but that can be researched.
Step three--Sand the living hell out of the wood. For starters, I used a very coarse grit with an electric sander, and then switched to a finer grit. You want a very smooth surface. Oh, and wear a mask. That sawdust can wreak havoc on your sinuses.
Step four--Shellac the wood. There are two types of shellac that I found, and they both smell wonderfully, like orange schnapps . One is colorless, and one is amber. I think both enhance the beauty of the wood, but it truly is a matter of personal preference. Follow directions on the can!!!! Use disposable brushes, but if you need to add a coat or two the next day, place your brush in a jar of rubbing alcohol, and that will keep the brush usable for the next day.
Step five--Find some table legs that are suitable in length for the table you are making, and buy some top plates (they come as angled and straight....I used straight). I ordered the 12-inch tapered legs (made by Waddell) from Home Depot, and with shipping and taxes, five cost me $28.24. I truly had no clue how many I would need, but I knew no more than five. Five top plates ran me $9.09 at Lowe's.
Bonus: The box that held the legs provided a new toy for the cats to fight over.
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Step six--Measure an isosceles triangle (or a close approximation), and screw in the plates. Screw in the screws (that sounds weird) at a 45-degree angle to substantiate the hold a bit more.
Step seven--Screw the legs into the plates, and test table with weight.
Step eight--Stain or paint your table legs. I tried to stain first, and it didn't look right to me. So I opted to paint the legs brown instead.
Step nine--Screw the painted (or stained) legs into the plates, and enjoy your table!! Or sell it on Craigslist.
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