Hi there!  

It’s been a while since I’ve been here, and that’s simply because of a lack of time or nothing significant to share with you.  

I thought about telling you a certain story because most people don’t know how the things I create come to life. Usually, I share the finished projects because in the whirlwind of creation, I forget about the whole world. Sometimes I feel like I’m just a tool for execution, and the idea itself comes from somewhere unknown. Hard to describe  In many of my projects, I forget to take photos, etc., but this time I managed to capture it, and this is the story of one of those projects.  

I received a piece of wood from my best friend, whom I greet warmly. (You know who you are  ). The piece of wood was cut in Norway and then exported to Poland, where it sat in a warehouse of one of the companies in Białystok. Nobody remembered it for 3 years, and nobody needed it. It was well-seasoned though. In fact, it might have been in the way because it was a piece of wood with a diameter of 75 cm, thickness of 10 cm, and weighing about 50 kg. For some, it might be firewood, but I saw potential in it   

It ended up in my hands. The first thing to do, of course, was to level it. But how to do it without specialized machinery and tools? So I made a planer from materials in my workshop. It may not look good, but it serves its purpose. I secured the plank on the worktable, propped it with wooden wedges to prevent it from moving, and attached strips of equal height to the sides of the table so that they were slightly higher than the material being worked on.  

I inserted the router into the guide and, moving the power tool left and right, started leveling. I set the depth of the cut to approximately 6 mm for easier operation because I only have a router with a small power and a 12 mm router bit  The plank was very uneven, so in one place, the router bit didn’t touch the surface of the wood, while in another place, it did. Gradually, I adjusted the depth of the cut until I achieved a level surface. It took me a while   

I performed the same operation on the other side and then sanded it. That’s when the texture and wood grain became visible.  

I started removing the bark from the edges to avoid any unwanted inhabitants  In the case of using an impervious coating, like epoxy resin, you can leave the bark on. However, I didn’t want to do that in this case because I had done it before in other projects.  

The material was now leveled, and I could see how it looked. I had to protect a natural crack from further splitting. Pour resin into it? Too simple. Wooden wedges? I’ve done that before – my thoughts while unscrewing the router with a wrench. Then, a sudden idea! Why not use a wrench? Who’s going to stop me?  It definitely serves its purpose thanks to the extensions on the end of the wrench. I inserted it and the crack wouldn’t spread further. So let’s get to work!  

I took three wrenches of different sizes. I laid them down, traced their shape, measured the thickness of each wrench (each one was a different thickness), and set the depth of the cut accordingly. I routed out the space for the wrenches as much as I could. The router bit is round, so where I couldn’t reach with the router, I used a chisel to remove the wood. I did the same with the other two wrenches. I coated the wrenches with strong glue and then hammered them into the prepared holes through the plank, being careful not to damage the wood. I filled the gaps in the knots with black epoxy resin, which I sanded off after a week. And voila, the tabletop is ready. Now, what about the legs?  

I went to the tool store to get paint, screws, and various consumables. At the entrance, axe handles were displayed. Again, I thought, why not make table legs out of axe handles?  After a short analysis, I took three pieces. I went to the workshop, shortened the axe handles a bit, traced their shape so that they could be inserted into the tabletop. I turned on the router, and off I went. It was only when I was covered in wood shavings that I realized I wasn’t wearing my work clothes  I made three holes.  

I took the handles, sanded them with sandpaper, taped them with masking tape, and painted them white up to the tape, leaving the rest in their natural color. I painted one handle in reverse. Then, I made holes in the openings I created, as well as in the handles, for an 8mm dowel. While the paint was drying, I thought it was a good time to change clothes. Even though acrylic paint dries quickly, half an hour later, they were already dry.  

So I applied glue and inserted the legs into the prepared 4cm deep holes with an additional dowel. I left them clamped with woodworking clamps overnight   

Tadaaaaam! The coffee table is almost ready. I just need to sand it here and there and protect the whole thing with acrylic lacquer. I repeated this process three times, lightly sanding with 320-grit sandpaper between coats  The duration of this project was approximately one week. Coffee table done. Time for professional photos  I spread out the photographic background, borrowed a DSLR camera from my sister (thanks a lot!), converted a construction spotlight into a flash box. So, snap, snap, and some photos:  

The story of one project. And what about the story of this tree before it was cut? How long did it grow? How many obstacles did it have to overcome not to break? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I think that each of us has an interesting story that the world has no idea about, just like with this piece of wood!  

Thank you if you made it this far. Please leave a trace behind, and if you have any questions, suggestions, or anecdotes, feel free to write!  

Welcome to my world! Peace!