Reclaimed Wood Coffee Table with Iron Straps

We’ve had so many nice projects going through the shop lately, it’s hard to pick just one to show off a bit. However, this coffee table is a really, really nice piece. Visiting customers have been very impressed with this one.

The top of this table was made using sill beams from an old granary near Henderson, Minnesota. Oak was commonly used for sill beams because it has a natural rot resistance. They would often use huge logs and just flatten off the top and sometimes the bottom with an ax or adz. You can see the original granary and original sill timber in the pictures. (yes, I get to crawl under these buildings to take pictures. It is inevitable to find something dead and something alcohol related under these old buildings). Over time, the oak gets wonderful coloring. The color on this piece is all natural.

For the base, all of the joinery is real. The H-Stretcher goes through the legs, the trestle goes through the short horizontal pieces, etc… We do not simply glue the 6×6 piece onto the outside of the legs.

The texture on this table all around is pretty wonderful. This is all ax works from the 1800s. We worked the top just enough to create functional top, but we keep this great old, historical character.

Our blacksmith, Wyatt, over at WLB Blacksmith Shop hammered the straps into place. This is always a challenge because hot metal wants to start wood on fire. He worked carefully to bend the edges around the original live edge of the wood. The strap fits into a routered area, but still sits slightly proud of the wood. The strap is 3/8in thick. Handmade rivets were set in place as well. As Wyatt worked this piece, he had to maneuver this 400 pound table all about — a challenge to say the least.

All in all, we got admit, we’re pretty proud of this one.

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