# Big solid Mahogany slab coffee table



## MarksCaribbeanWoodworks (Jan 13, 2019)

A bit of the progress to completion

Reactions: Like 1 | EyeCandy! 3 | Great Post 1 | Way Cool 5


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## MarksCaribbeanWoodworks (Jan 13, 2019)

Here is the front leg before I worked it

Reactions: Like 1 | EyeCandy! 1 | Way Cool 4


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## sprucegum (Jan 15, 2019)

That is really nice, I like your clamp system for fastening the leg. Must have been a project to get it to sit level and flat on the floor, I sometimes find it a challenge when using uniform stock.


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## Nature Man (Jan 15, 2019)

Did the driftwood inspire you to make the table or were you looking for a piece for the leg and you ran across this one? Chuck


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## MarksCaribbeanWoodworks (Jan 15, 2019)

Hey Chuck.

The front leg was actually part of the overall tree and came from its root system. The tree was approximately 20' in length (that's what was left of the tree when I found it behind a warehouse in an industrial area of the island) with a girth at its root base of approximately 18'. It was huge. :).

When living this tree was located (in present day) about 150 yards from the high tide line. But from the photographs I found at the St. Thomas Historical Society, this tree was (about 100+ years ago) located within 50 yards of high tide line. The difference is distance is because over the last 100 years the government and people built and constructed a 4 lane road way between the tree and the ocean by filling in the beach area. The area where this tree was located is now called Long Bay on St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. The history of the tree is actually pretty well documented from photographs dating back to the 1880's because it sat in an important port area on the island right below a large hill called "Signal Hill" which was a place where many photographs were taken of the shoreline. The earliest photograph I found was date circa 1885 or so and the tree then looked to be almost as big as it was when I found it. 

Little more information than what you expected, but getting back to your question to mill the tree, I spent a good day or more with a power washer cleaning out the root base as much as I possibly could. From the root base came about 6 full 5 gallon buckets of sand, rock, sea shells and broken glass of all colors and an old coin of some type with most of its markings gone but it did look Danish. I then separated the root system from the trunk by making a cross cut through the entire girth at about 2 foot above what I though was the beginning of the root system. After separating the root system, I then went through it carefully looking for naturally loose areas of the root and separated those with chainsaw cuts trying to leave the bigger parts together. This leg was one of those loose pieces that easily separated.

It does look like washed up word for sure, but really its just part of the root system to this tree that probably saw alot of sea water innundation.

It was a really cool piece of wood that I set out of the way on my concrete parking deck for over the last year or more and kept looking at as table leg. So after I flattened then main table with my router sled I went to that root piece for the leg because it look like it would really fit the look.

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 3


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## Gdurfey (Feb 1, 2019)

I love the extra story; so neat to know the history of one particular tree. Very cool!!!!


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## JoshfromPA (Apr 27, 2019)

Mark that is an awesome table and the story makes it even cooler. Thank you for sharing the pics as well as the story.


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## barry richardson (Apr 27, 2019)

Very cool piece Mark! Your really steppin up your game on the furniture making


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## Bob Ireland (Apr 28, 2019)

That's an awesome table


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## T. Ben (Apr 28, 2019)

Beautiful table


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