A past client reached out to us with a follow-on piece of work to come up with a way to create two small desks that could double as side tables when they were entertaining. They shared a rough sketch with us and after several back-and-forths we came up with the idea of using a large live-edge piece of hackberry that was rescued by the park district of Overland Park, Kansas. The idea of using one board cut in two was that the pieces could be placed end-to-end and they would appear like one long table and then split apart to be used as an L-shaped desk. Once the rough board was selected it was planed to uniform thickness and the knots and cracks were filled with black epoxy before beginning. When applying epoxy, the opposite face of the board is taped with duct-tape to minimize leakage… we have had some interesting experiences where two knots on opposite sides of a seemingly thin board were connected despite being several inches apart. Both sides of the board need to be epoxied and using a torch can help remove pesky air bubbles that emerge as the epoxy settles.
Once the epoxy was cured, the excess was sanded flat leaving the board more stable with the interesting figure of the knots accentuated. The bark was then removed from the live edge and then cleaned up using a wire brush.
We wanted to give the epoxy a little more time to rest so we started cutting the 1.5″ x 1.5″ square tubing that will be used for the legs and to support the floating walnut shelf that will sit below the live-edge top
So the epoxy has cured and it’s time to see what we have. This part is always fun, because when you first apply the epoxy it looks like you have ruined everything, but with a little elbow grease (and a belt sander) you turn a mess into something spectacular
Now comes the scary part… cutting the board into the two desks. There are few things that you can’t recover from in wood working… putting a board back together once you cut it is one of them. First the board needed to be cut in half and then the pieces needed to be trimmed to their final length of thirty inches.
The client wanted the two desks to look like one continuous piece of wood when pushed together so that the desks could double as a long serving table for special occasions. Mission accomplished!
With the top now complete we applied several coats of a water-borne poly to keep the wood from moving while we finished construction of the legs and lower shelf. They came out beautiful.
Now it was time to start construction of the lower shelf from some walnut that came from an old neighborhood in Kansas City overlooking the Missouri River. Both shelves were made from a single board with the intent of creating a similar effect to the top. The boards were cut, processed with a jointer to create one flat reference surface and then brought to uniform thickness using our planer.
The boards where then glued, epoxied and trimmed to rough length and width pending the completion of the legs.
Once the glue was cured, black epoxy was used to stabilize the cracks and knots in the lumber and then sanded smooth. The end effect is a set of shelves that look like they flow into one another.
The final step before sanding, assembly and finish was to complete the welding of the legs and applying a clear-coat finish.
With the legs complete, we finalized the dimensions of the lower shelf and cut the rough boards to shape. We then painstakingly cut a notch in the corner of each shelf so that it would fit snugly onto the hidden support bar on each leg. With all the sanding and cutting done, it was then time to apply the first coat of finish. The last minute idea of having the lower shelf also appear to be one continuous piece of wood worked flawlessly.
With the finish dry, it was time for assembly. We had to get creative on how to mount the top given the limited space available, but with the help of an old screwdriver bit and an angle grinder, I was able to fashion something that worked. Once assembled, we set it up as one continuous table and it looked perfect.
The last step was to create and mount bases for the legs to give the desks a little extra stability. We chose to use walnut to pick-up the shelf and to tie into some other pieces in the house
Now the best part… the picture of our hand-crafted work in its forever home.
