Make Stump Table

When a Chinaberry tree was cut down on my street, I couldn’t resist salvaging a cross section. I rolled the chainsawed slab back to my apartment and let it dry for a month, before packing it with me on a trip to the country to work it. Chinaberry is soft and easy to work using hand tools, however its porous end grain is challenging to finish.

I built a saw guide, and leveled the table top.

I used an electric sander to smooth out the tabletop.

The largest cracks I filled with epoxy resin.

What’s no to love about semi-gloss urethane, that goofy, shiny material that turns wood into diamonds? The aesthetic is just wonderfully trashy.

The varnish completely changes the hue of the Chinaberry .

To the underside I attached hairpin legs, in neutral gray, oil-finished steel. Most of these are manufactured with a deep black finish, but that seemed like too much visual contrast for a piece to go in a living room.

The table top is 19" diameter and 4" thick. I measured the legs to give it a total heigh of 24": the perfect proportions to hold either my 4" tumbler or 3" coffee cup.