Sycamore Cross-Section Coffee Table

December 2015 my father, uncle, and I cut this tree down for lumber. The Sycamore tree measured roughly 36" in diameter.

furniture DIY industrial design metal work woodworking hairpin legs

I had them cut 2 cross sections off the stump of the log at the widest point. I was more interested in trying to preserve the vibrant pink color that Sycamores sometimes have. The sun decided to show up at the end of the day and it really made the colors in this tree come to life.

After approximately 8 months of drying in my school's shop David, the shop supervisor, and I used a CNC Router to mill the cross sections, evenly, flat to ~3.5" thick

After cleaning the surface you can see the pink coloring has faded, but it still possessed a very beautiful ring pattern near the center

I spend the next several hours sanding the surface to get a smooth finish and work out the grooves from the router bit.

I used Linseed Oil to create a nice, dark finish, and to help bring the colors out in the heart wood

I then applied a thick, Spar Urethane coating above it to seal it from water damage, being it would eventually be a coffee table, and would inevitably get used frequently.

The next step was to fabricate the legs. I decided on hairpin legs because of the contemporary flair they give furniture. I decided to use 5/8" rebar so as to fabricate my own legs from scratch.

After having cut, polished, bent, and welded the legs together each leg measure roughly 16.5" tall, which would put the top of the table around 20". Perfect Coffee Table height.

I applied a coat of urethane on the legs to prevent rust, and assembled them to the underside of the table with 1/4" lag bolts. You'll notice that the cross section in this particular photo is different than the one above. This was the first table I made, which I gave to my aunt and uncle. The cross section in the pictures above is the sister table, that went to my parents. These were both gifts to them as this particular tree was taken out of our family's timberland in Kentucky.

You'll notice the difference in color as well. The first table was finished with Tung Oil which made the heartwood appear slightly more red than then Linseed Oil Finish. The checking on the edges was unfortunate, but didn't damage the structural integrity of the actuall piece.

All in All it took roughly 20 hours, spread across 5 days, to complete. I was working on another furniture studio in the Industrial Design Program at the time. This was a "afternoons if I have time" project.