Live Wedge (Pun)

This is a coffee table I made for my brother for his 29th birthday. It is made of a 1 3/8” slab of Myrtle wood for the table top and 1 1/8” Walnut for the legs and shelf. It is 18” high, about the same deep and about 40” wide.

This is my first decent piece of furniture and I’m pretty happy with it. A few hiccups along the way and a lot of learning. I used wedged mortise and tenon joints for the legs joining with the top. I really like the contrast of the walnut with the myrtle. These joints aren’t as tough as I thought they’d be (to do) and very stylish. The wedges are made of myrtle as well. I tried to utilize the live edges on the walnut legs and the myrtle top, I really like this style.

It is finished with two full strength coats of satin poly and then a few wipe on coats of some 2:1 poly/mineral spirits blend (Lightly sanded between each coat).

In the second picture you can see the edge of the myrtle really well, I was pretty concerned with the break of the edge when I started this project but decided I wouldn’t know what to do to fix it so I decided it would add character and went with it, I am very happy with the look it gives it. The third picture shows the joinery a bit and the knot that I filled with JB Weld Wood Restorer Epoxy (I’ll write up a review shortly, awesome).The fourth picture is of the live edge on the top (live edge, wedge M&T, LIVE WEDGE, get it?). Myrtle I’ve heard is also known as “Salt & Pepper” wood, the fifth picture displays that very nicely. The sixth is of my hand wood burning on the bottom, the date is on there but not included in the picture.

This table is very very sturdy and pretty heavy. It should have a long life.

Thanks to my friend for the great pictures, my wife for helping me with the finishing, Matt & Unit 5 Woodworks of Sioux Falls SD for the tips I needed and the walnut, and Josh for the Myrtle.

Thanks everyone for looking!

-- Grant - S/N Dakota