This has been on my to-do list for a while. I milled the log up about 1.5-2 years ago and have used the top pieces for several end tables, but I have been wanting to make a desk from one for quiet a while. This really has no buyer, but I have been wanting to make a desk from one slab for a long time, so I will probably make it, move it in to my office as an extra table and let it sit there until someone buys it (or I figure I will give up on selling it, make it my primary desk, then it will sell after I get everything settled in it, but whatever!). It is from a tree that was being cleared for an easement near Lake Brownwood that was going to be pushed in to a ditch to be burned.
The log:
Fresh cut green, before drying:
Dried:
leveled, sanded, dovetailed and epoxied:
With second (or third.. can't remember) coat of finish applied. This is the pith cut of the tree with a lot of character. It is pretty cool to see that when the tree was ~7-9 years old they trimmed a bunch of lower branches that grew over. Surprisingly, for being 32" average width, I counted the tree to only be about ~30 years old. Some of its first years it put on 1" of growth per year, but an average of about 1/2" an inch per growth ring, coupled with a spurt from about 5-10 years ago where it hardly grew it all, it obviously was sitting in a nice area.
I wanted a lighter design on the base, so I didn't carry the cabinets all the way to the floor, but this meant I needed to do some accent on the legs to keep them from being so monotonous. I put a taper on them and inlaid a strip of walnut about 1/4" in on the two outside faces of each leg:
Test piece:
four legs tapered and inlaid..
The end cabinets glued up:
There will be a double raised panel mid section to bridge the gap between the two cabinets. I am going to do dovetailed 18" full extension soft close drawers on each side with some removable dividers. I also am thinking about doing a trap door/false bottom on a drawer that would open a secret compartment. Not sure yet, but I have had several people enquire on hidden compartments, so figure this would be a good place to test one out.
The log:
Fresh cut green, before drying:
Dried:
leveled, sanded, dovetailed and epoxied:
With second (or third.. can't remember) coat of finish applied. This is the pith cut of the tree with a lot of character. It is pretty cool to see that when the tree was ~7-9 years old they trimmed a bunch of lower branches that grew over. Surprisingly, for being 32" average width, I counted the tree to only be about ~30 years old. Some of its first years it put on 1" of growth per year, but an average of about 1/2" an inch per growth ring, coupled with a spurt from about 5-10 years ago where it hardly grew it all, it obviously was sitting in a nice area.
I wanted a lighter design on the base, so I didn't carry the cabinets all the way to the floor, but this meant I needed to do some accent on the legs to keep them from being so monotonous. I put a taper on them and inlaid a strip of walnut about 1/4" in on the two outside faces of each leg:
Test piece:
four legs tapered and inlaid..
The end cabinets glued up:
There will be a double raised panel mid section to bridge the gap between the two cabinets. I am going to do dovetailed 18" full extension soft close drawers on each side with some removable dividers. I also am thinking about doing a trap door/false bottom on a drawer that would open a secret compartment. Not sure yet, but I have had several people enquire on hidden compartments, so figure this would be a good place to test one out.
