Rescued From The Wood Grinder

I was visiting a friend who operated a wood and green waste disposal business near Sacramento, California. While touring his place, he took me to his storage shed and pulled out two large cedar slabs, each measuring about 30” x 60”. He had dug them out of a pile of wood someone had dropped off to be ground up for wood chips, and saved them in his shed for several years thinking that someday he would transform them. As it often goes, he never found the time and was tired of moving them around in the shed. When he offered them to me I happily loaded them up.
Once the cedar slabs arrived in my workshop, I leaned them against the wall where they sat for another two years. Like my friend, I became tired of working around them and finally decided I needed to make the saw dust fly. They seemed like a perfect size for a great cabin coffee table. We love the mountains and it has been a dream of mine to own a cabin someday. I think I secretly hoped that by making a cabin coffee table I would be a little closer to having my dream come true.
I had very few tools in my garage at that time. A table saw, a couple of sanders and a jigsaw. I knew that having a jointer would make the job easier, so I jumped on craigslist and started shopping. I hit pay dirt with a great 6” jointer that I added to my growing woodshop.
The two cedar slabs each had one live edge. The opposite edge and faces had been roughly sawn with a chainsaw mill. Unfortunately I did not take pictures during project, however as you can see from the end result photo, it turned out great.

The table remained in the garage for quite some time while I waited to win the lotto and purchase that cabin. No surprise, that day did not come. I decided to give the table to my wife’s cousin, who now owns their grandma’s old cabin. He has graciously shared the cabin with us so many times, it just seemed right. Now several times a year I get to sit in front of the fire with my feet up on that coffee table and enjoy the fact that I don’t have to go up on the roof and clean off the pine needles.

See more at.
http://reclaimedwoodblog.com/