Introduction: How I Make a Coffee Table From Tree Roots

By
About: Hello, I create usable rustic funky folk art for the home. Bristlecone Pine is the main wood I work with. This wood is the oldest living thing on the planet. The dead wood I use is from Colorado and has been d…

Howdy
In this video, I try my best to show you through my eye how I create a coffee table out of tree roots. The tables I make take a glass top. I order 1/2 thick elliptical ovals. Half inch thick glass, glass companies tell me is harder to break. Any thinner then I would half to have it tempered. Which means that if it breaks then it will not break into shards but little cubes. This table that I made is out of Bristlecone Pine from Colorado. Bristlecone Pine is really special. This tree is the oldest living thing on the planet. The Dead Wood that I am allowed to collect in Colorado has been dated to be 2000 to 2400 years old. I use the roots upside down and use as many root pieces as it takes to like balance the piece out. All the pieces are married together with birch doles that I glue in with Elmer's wood glue. After I cut the table to size then I sandblast. This removes all the char from the forest fire that killed the trees up where I collect the Bristlecone and any rot. I also try to find color and kind of bleed it out with my sandblaster. This is an art form all in its self. After sandblasting then I sand with a belt sander to level the top, so the glass will rest without wobble. I do place adjustable guilds on the bottom so then the table can rest on uneven floors. Like slate or tile floor.
You know I remember back when I was four years old or so, I was watching my dad and neighbor working really hard at digging up a tree root. There was an older grandfather figure there watching with me. He said to me, sonny ya know if you could figure out something to do with all these tree roots then you would be a rich man.This really stuck with me and is probably why I love to make these root tables. Of course, I am still waiting for the rich part to come around, money rich that is. But I do receive a real satisfying richness creating these tables that money just can not buy. I hope this little video is of use to you and shows you what you can do with all these roots you see around.
Thanks for supporting me
David Spiesman

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Handcraftsup?ref=search_shop_redirect

720 688 1078