Coffee Table in curly maple and padauk

Great looking table. That really is some radical curly maple! I like the padauk accent.

-- If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until it's free! PJ O'Rourke

Great wood, Great design. Where do you get wood like that?

-- - You begin thinking less, and feeling more.

Beautiful table out of beautiful wood.Great work!
Curly maple…...if look can kill….

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

I’ve cherry picked the woodcraft stores in Milwaukee and Madison WI for years. Got the Ambrosia piece at Rockler with a 25% coupon. I also have gotten some stuff from a place in Illinois whose name escapes me. Basically just buying one cool board at a time with coupons. I’m in no hurry. Focus has shifted now on challenging myself with a sideboard with resawn zebrawood panels. Like I said: 100% hooked.

-- "It's a good thing my woodworking is done afterhours so my 2 year old daughter can't hear the swearing."

Great lookin table and awesome job on the wainscoting! The wood is fantastic!

That is some amazing wood and looks like some real good craftmanship. Congratulations.

-- http://inhisgrip1.blogspot.com/

I love the wood..

-- making sawdust....

Awesome. Looks like the guitar is real nice also.

-- Ron, Twain Harte, Ca. Portable on site Sawmill Service http://westcoastlands.net/Sawmill.html http://westcoastlands.net/SawBucks2/phpBB3

I like your design theory. I’ll keep that in mind. Your coffee table jumped out at me over all the
projects I have been viewing. Nice job—and I don’t say that very often. What finishing materials did you use?
I am always looking ways to make the grain in curley maple pop.

Looking forward to your reply.
TheHarr.

-- The wood is good.

Thank you for the kind words. It is very humbling posting something on this site. For the finish I sanded to 400 grit, raised the grain with a spray bottle of water, and sanded again. Then I flooded the top with boiled linseed oil, let sit half an hour, then wiped off the excess. I did this twice with two days in between and a space heater under my workbench to aid in the drying. From there I simply did about 4 coats of the minwax oil based polyurethane (gloss). In a month or so when I am 100% certain that the whole thing is cured, I am going to go back over it up to 1200 grit and then polish with a buffing attachment on the random orbital sander so it looks like glass. That gloss is really unforgiving…when the light hits it you see all kinds of brush marks and imperfections.

-- "It's a good thing my woodworking is done afterhours so my 2 year old daughter can't hear the swearing."

Wow, that’s some crazy wood… it looks terrific. Great Job!

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †

Whoa!! that is beautiful. Really really nice. Excellent use of some beautiful wood.

Table looks awesome. Great job. I wish I had a workshop. I see the guitar. I play too.

Really inspiring table. Thanks for the finishing tips. I’m underway with a cherry night stand and am looking for simple steps to a nice clean finish.

I also love the signature quote. I too have a 2 year old daughter that forces me to work nights. I joked to my wife that I’m going to start a blog titled “The Silent Woodworker” because I can’t use power tools in the garage while she sleeps. Forces me to do a lot of hand tool work. I’m on mortise #2 out of 16, using nothing but the pad of my hand and a very sharp 1/4 chisel. My hand is a bit black and blue, but the mortises are gorgeous.

Great table, and while I know nothing about guitars, that’s one cool piece to look at.

-- Measure, cut, curse, repeat.