Sending the beast on its way!

 It's been a minute, right? 

I finally finished this massive coffee table renewal - from attaching the legs, to retrofitting the skirting, to trimming out the top with metal. And more! 

This beast has been in my shop for a month. The owners (and I) couldn't decide on a proper patina for the metal trim on the corners and the top.  Matte black? Rusted rustic? 

We tried a variety of colors and chemical patinas, but in the end - they took it without a finish on the metal. They'll experiment on it until they come up with something that they can live with. 

This table took top a huge amount of real estate in my shop, so I'm happy to see it be on its way. If they send some pictures of the finished piece, I'll be sure to post them here.

Leveling up the table

If I had to guess, I'd say that there's not a single element of this window/gate that is square. 

It's been giving me fits, but nothing was more challenging than finally bolting the legs on, turning it upright (with the help of some strong friends!)  and learning that it wasn't level. 

Every leg was just slightly different in length, and when the table was finally upright, I could figure out just how much of a difference there was.  

I measured, did some calculations and put some shims under each leg, until it was level. Considering this table is a few hundred pounds, lifting and shimming was a challenge!

 After finding the longest leg, I figured out how much the shorter legs needed to be lengthened, planed some wood to those various thicknesses. And cut some filler blocks, mimicking the turned legs. 

It finally dawned on me that I had a car jack that would make this an easy operation, and proceeded to jack up each corner, making it easier to attach a filler at the bottom of each leg. 

(Brilliant, I must say!) And finally - a level table, ready for attaching the aprons and framing out the top.