Coffee Table Made from Old Cypress Tree

                                                                                                                                                               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.

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.