DIY Dining Table – Corotu Wood – ruthkennedysretirementblog

Three years ago a neighbour had a large corotu tree fall down in his back yard. It was massive, the diameter of the trunk was taller than me.

Our neighbour had a guy, with a six foot chain saw blade, come by and slice up the tree.

It made some very nice slabs of wood. Although it did wreck the fence when it fell down. The slabs of wood were so heavy a fork lift had to be used to move them.

We really wanted a table top that was a solid piece of wood. We found they are not easy to come by but this tree just happened to fall down. Right time, right place! After purchasing the slab we wanted, it was treated with a gasoline smelling liquid to keep it from being eaten by termites.

After being treated, the slabs were stacked and left to dry out for two years.

Cliff (picture used with permission) then used a router to level our slab and take off most of the bark.

Such beautiful wood.

We also had two benches cut from the same tree. They did not need as much drying time as so much smaller. Last spring before going back to Canada, both bases and benches were delivered separately. There was quite a bit of staining from being stacked. After a lot of sanding and several coats of stain, the benches looked really good. Then Daryl put both pieces together.

New feet that wouldn’t wreck the new floor, and the benches were good to go.

Before Daryl came home last spring, the table top and base were delivered. He put the two pieces together, wrapped it up and left it on the deck to be completed after we arrived back in Pedasi this fall.

We arrived at the end of October.

The table top was actually in really good shape. Cliff had done a great job smoothing out the top.

There was a fair amount of dark stains on the wood. Daryl used an acid wash that worked really well. The entire table top had to be done, otherwise we had a polk-a-dot table top.

After such a long time, the table was getting close to completion.

A good sanding, ending with 280, and the table was smooth and ready for staining.

I applied 8 coats of Aquavar. It is still rainy season here, not the best time to be applying stain. I waited a couple of days between coats before lightly sanding and applying the next. Pretty good chance the table will need another sanding and staining when the dry season arrives to give it a proper finish. We just needed a table!