Coffee Table Complete

Hi fans, the coffee table is finished. I finished it a long time ago and got busy then forgot to blog about it. But I'm back and recapping the last steps. After I was finished carving with the Kutzall disc I went to my orbital sander. I added a 3/8"thick foam adapter to the orbital sander with a 40 grit pad. The adapter pad is soft and molds to the contours of the table legs well and the 40 grit sanding disc smooths over the carving marks really well. The picture below is a good example of the transformation from carving to sanding.

You can see the rough texture on the left from the Kutzall disc and the smoothing happening on the right from the orbital sander.

Here's some shots of the table after sanding down to about 180 grit, almost ready for finishing.

Oh my!

Eventually I sanded down to 220 grit which feels super smooth. I put an oil finish on the table which I think you are only supposed to sand to 180 grit for better absorption of the oil but 220 just has the super smooth feel I wanted.

I put Osmo Raw oil on the table. It's supposed to keep the wood looking as natural as possible without changing the colour or darkening the wood. It gave the ash a wet look to it with little to no colour change and only slightly darker giving the table the wet wood appearance. I love the finish, it has a nice satin hue, easy to apply with a rag and it's more durable then I expected. Spills bead on the surface and don't soak in and it wipes clean. If the finish begins to wear it can be touched up as well which is a really nice benefit. 

Here is the final table with the finish applied and about 3 months of wear and tear on it.

I will be posting much more in 2025, see you soon!

Nate