The kid and I took a walk in the woods with a chainsaw, on the lookout for a trunk to slice. We cut this one off of a tree that fell in a storm last year. I think it’s a spruce. The legs are from another conifer, I think it was a pine. We looked for a tree that was standing dead and dry for the legs so they wouldn’t shrink and fall out. The stump is somewhat wet. I’m thinking that maybe as that dries it’ll make the legs tighter. I’ll let you know.
I used a bit brace and a No. 24 drill to bore the holes, the kid used the shave horse and drawknife to make the tenons.
I cut the legs to length with the chainsaw; sized the table to fit with our outdoor chairs.
We sanded the top a little bit, just to remove some of the deep chainsaw marks, then put on a coat of Thompson’s Water Seal. I never used that stuff before, I found a whole can of it at the swap shed. We put a coat on the underside and under the legs as well.