Live Edge Dining Table
Top: Ambrosia Maple & Black Walnut. Base: Powder Coated Steel
Dimensions: 9' long, 42" wide, 1.75" thick
This table was designed and built for a communal dining area within an assisted living facility. The walnut portion is intended to evoke a table runner, and tie the table into the existing decor of the space. The maple provides a beautiful bright contrast, but its silvery brown ambrosia stripes tame that contrast and tie it into the darker wood around it. The table has been positioned directly below a skylight, and the natural light really shows off the three dimensionality of the wood.
Anyone that sees the table seems unable to keep their hands off of it...and that was exactly the intention. The live edge, the three dimensional features of the grain, and the natural feel of the finish just draw people in. It took ages to even take these photos, because people wouldn't stop touching it! Most importantly the residents of the community seem to find it visually engaging, and an almost therapeutically tactile experience...rather than just a table.
Process snapshots
After two slabs of ambrosia maple (each roughly 120" x 30" x 2.25") and a single walnut board (120" x 10" x 2") were selected they were then CNC flattened and jointed. Theoretically they were within a tolerance of +/- .002" to one another, but only fleetingly given that they were 10-foot lengths of wood being milled on a hot & rainy summer night. Even so, the three pieces fit together with a smile-inducing level of precision. And because I wanted there to be absolutely no doubts about the strength of the connections, the maple is joined to the central walnut runner with no fewer than thirty 40mm Dominos.
The finished assembly was then sanded up to 1500 grit, and finished with deep penetrating oil/wax blend. This kind of finish has the benefits of being not only beautiful, durable, extremely easy to maintain, and 100% non toxic, therefore, totally food safe. This table is intended to be of heirloom quality, and to look and feel as natural as possible.
