Mike Montgomery of Modern Builds, found this slab of wood at his local lumber yard. It was sitting collecting dust but he had a brilliant idea to transform it into a mid-century modern coffee table. This modern coffee piece is the perfect example of how a raw piece of wood is left mostly intact to create a dramatic piece of furniture.

It took more than just slapping on some stain and hairpin legs to build this thing. A table requires two completely flat sides, but the old wood slab was warped and too large and heavy to fit through a planer. So Montgomery had to level the slab using wood shims and then build a makeshift planer using his router and a wood frame to support the project.

It took numerous passes on both sides of the wood, and a final sanding to achieve a flat and smooth surface. He used Danish Oil to seal and protect the wood and to bring out the natural colors in the grain. Installing 16-inch hairpin legs finishes the table and offers an airy contrast to the heavy slab of wood.

If you want to make something like this but don’t have a slab of wood large enough to become a coffee table, consider making stools and side tables using the same technique.