When we were planning the building of our home we wanted to cut down as few trees as possible. We ended up only having to cut down two trees. We wanted to put those trees to good use so they weren’t cut down for no reason. We decided to use the wood from those trees to make our two fireplace mantles and our farmhouse table. It was a big project that took my husband, his dad and my dad a few years to complete. You have to take time with projects like this to get a really beautiful piece of furniture like this table.
We first had to take the wood to be milled to get it down to workable pieces. This table is made from a Black Jack tree except for the middle board which is Pin Oak. Once the wood was milled we brought it home and laid it out how we wanted it to look. Once we had it how we wanted we had to sand and cut the pieces to fit together.
Here is where our dads came in. They helped hollow out an 87 year old pecan stump to be used for the base of the table. Then the three of them got the pieces of the table put up on saw horses (the planks were not light) for us to start adhering them together. My husband and I then started doweling and gluing the planks together and using vices to hold them in place to dry.
Once the middle of the table was together we had to put the ends on and start sanding everything! Our house has turquoise and red accents everywhere so I decided to make the chairs for our table turquoise. My husband then had the great idea off adding turquoise pebbles to the holes in the table. He glued them in and sanded. He even added an L to really customize our table.
Finally, we poured a two part epoxy over the entire table. Being careful to fill in all voids and using the heat gun to get rid of any bubbles. The final piece measures 9 feet 6 inches by 5 ft. This table was a real labor of love that will have many memories for years to come!
-Cristie
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