Pale hardwood table and matching wall bench on slim black steel frames against a block wall

Custom Woodworking

Live-Edge Tables & Hardwood Benches

Slab tables and benches on slim steel frames, plus shop work — glue-ups, a turned stool and a shaped hardwood board.

ProjectLive-Edge Tables & Hardwood Benches
ServiceCustom Woodworking
LocationNot recorded — see note below
Photos8 (3 mid-build)

The problem

A slab on legs is easy to get wrong: the top moves with the seasons, and a base that fights that movement will split the top it is holding.

What Gary did

Gary flattens and finishes the slab, then mounts it on a slim steel frame using fixings that let the top move across its width. The bench and table are built as a matched pair so the grain and finish run consistently between them.

The result

Matched slab pieces on minimal steel bases, with the timber left free to move rather than pinned flat and left to crack.

How it came together

Timber boards clamped in a glue-up on the workbench during a table top build

In progress

Long timber boards laid out and clamped on a driveway ready for machining

Taking shape

Finished

Project photographs

FinishedLong hardwood bench on a steel frame set against a fence and block wall

FinishedTurned hardwood stool with curved cut-out handles, photographed against a dark background

FinishedShaped hardwood board with a carved curved handle detail

In progressFreshly oiled redwood bench top with the frame timbers beside it

FinishedCorner detail of a redwood clad wall with floating shelves and a herringbone bench base

Project location is not published because it has not been confirmed. Gary's photo archive spans more than one market and these images are not individually dated or geotagged, so no city is claimed for any single project.