Several years ago, I made a dining table from two bookmatched slabs of big leaf maple, a species native to the Pacific Coast of North America. In addition to the two slabs, I purchased a couple of smaller slabs of the same thickness, thinking they would be used to build the support structure for the table.
One of the smaller slabs was used in various ways, and another, about 2.5 metres long, stayed with me for several years. Recently I was asked to make a coffee table for a couple who were moving to the Pacific Northwest from California. The owners wanted an occasional informal dining table for two in front of their fireplace and television, and the leftover maple slab was the perfect length for a ‘waterfall’ table of about 1.25 metres.
