Woodworking Coffee Table

This project began as a way to explore creativity and adaptability during the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. With equipment available at home and a growing curiosity about working with materials like wood and epoxy, I saw an opportunity to transform downtime into a productive and rewarding experience.

A live-edge coffee table with a black epoxy pour, built at home during the COVID-19 lockdown with the tools I had and a growing curiosity about wood and epoxy. It went wrong once in the middle and came out better for it.

The finished coffee table

Why

Downtime turned into a way to test what I could make in a small space with few resources.

The draw was watching raw material become something functional. Every stage taught a technique, and the mistakes taught more than the steps that went to plan.

The process

Prep, pour, disaster, recovery, legs, and six finishes before the right one.

Preparation and pour

The rough-cut cookie, edges smoothed
The rough-cut cookie, edges smoothed
Surface prepped and the layout marked
Surface prepped and the layout marked
Tools and materials ready for the pour
Tools and materials ready for the pour
Epoxy mixed and ready
Epoxy mixed and ready

The bad pour, and the fix

The black epoxy did not set the way it should have, and for a while the piece looked finished in the wrong sense. Cutting back, reshaping, and cleaning brought the form back.

The black pour, not as planned
The black pour, not as planned
The low point
The low point
Cutting cleaner lines
Cutting cleaner lines
Back together
Back together

Legs and finish

Four legs gave it stability, then the top went through piano black, a fire finish, black stain, sanded fire stain, and a natural Rubio Monocoat that pulled red out of the grain, before landing on the ghosted finish.

The four steel legs, straight out of the box
The four steel legs, straight out of the box
One leg up close, with the mounting plate that bolts to the underside
One leg up close, with the mounting plate that bolts to the underside
1. Raw outline
1. Raw outline
2. Piano black
2. Piano black
3. Fire finish
3. Fire finish
4. Black stain
4. Black stain
5. Sanded fire stain
5. Sanded fire stain
6. Rubio Monocoat natural, which pulled red out of the grain
6. Rubio Monocoat natural, which pulled red out of the grain
7. Ghosted finish, the one that stayed
7. Ghosted finish, the one that stayed

Completed pieces

Live-edge slabs with black-filled cracks, finished for everyday use.
Backlit live-edge wood slab mounted on a bedroom wall, glowing warm around its edges
Backlit wall slab: a dark-stained round with black inlay along its cracks, lit from behind
Light live-edge coffee table with black filled cracks and a black edge, on steel legs
Coffee table: a pale slab with black-filled cracks and a blackened edge on steel legs