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Big leaf maple coffee table

2K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  mmwood_1 
#1 ·
A woman had a maple tree come down in her yard and wanted a coffee table made from it. Her preference was no glue or screws, and a completely non-toxic finish. Because I could not come up with a good way to secure the top without screws, she compromised and let me use screws with cleats to attach the top.

I put this together for her. Interlocking mortise and tenons with cherry pegs, and a beeswax finish. The wax was melted, applied with a buffer until it melted into the pores, then the excess was removed by a light rubbing with fine steel wool. The cherry came from a chunk her mother has had for 50 years, which is from a tree in her yard when she (the mother)was a kid. It's a genuine heirloom piece.

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#11 ·
I chiselled the outlines, drilled out much of the waste, then chiselled the sides and corners. Honed those chisels between each mortise.

"Not sure how long the beeswax finish will last. But if it *has* to be all natural I'll not sure what else you could do. Raw linseed oil, maybe? "

I presented her with samples of several options and explained the pros and cons of each. She really liked the 100% tung oil finish, but her partner really like the beeswax. Despite the fact that it was the most expensive finish, and the most difficult to revitalize.

Thanks, all!
 
#9 ·
Beautiful! Love the pegged/exposed/overlapping mortise and tenons. Slab top/live edge tables are so neat. Definitely a lot of interesting details to look at.

Not sure how long the beeswax finish will last. But if it *has* to be all natural I'll not sure what else you could do. Raw linseed oil, maybe? But the raw stuff takes forever to set up from what I've heard. Or maybe you could have convinced her that shellac is all natural. It kind of is... Just needs to be dissolved in alcohol. Lol.
 
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