Walnut Slab Coffee Table

And a fresh start for the blog

I could just start with posts about new projects I undertake, but I've done so many projects over the last few years, it seems a shame to not go back and share some of those. So, I'm planning to write a new post every week using old projects, and I'll include new projects along the way.

I thought I would kick things off with one of my first woodworking projects: a Black Walnut slab coffee table I made for my brother and sister-in-law. This was made from a very old (think decades) slab that had been waiting a long time for its second life. At this point, I had very limited tooling, so I thought a slab coffee table was a reasonable choice.

The slab had beautiful grain, but it also had some challenges, like a giant knot, a ragged hole, some checking (splitting at the end grain), and some warping.

I started by flattening the slab with a makeshift jig setup, which you can see below:

Slab flattening setup for use with a hand-held router, and piles of wood chips.

The setup was rough and precarious at best, and I'm still surprised it worked as well as it did. But we all do what we have to with what we have, right?

I ended up drilling out the bad knot and making a recess for a bowl. In hindsight, I'm not sure if that was the best choice, but there's no going back! I filled a couple checks with black CA glue.

There was gratuitous amounts of sanding and finishing, especially with the live edge and the rough hole still in the middle. In the end, I used some standard hairpin legs and an oil and wax finish. It's a beautiful piece I'm still proud of, and I'm glad it's in the family.