That elusive finish line just got owned!

Well......sort of. Not really owned quite yet. But getting closer. That counts for something, right? Right?

Ok, I figured in order to make a base, I needed a template - the more rigid the better. That's what that white thingy is on top (or bottom depending on which way you're looking at it) is supposed to be.

Scissors didn't work well, so had to use a drywall knife to score it and then it was ready to seek out that all elusive base up in the barn.

Once a viable piece of cottonwood made itself available, it was a simple matter to grind it down to rough thickness using the angle grinder with chainsaw wheel.

Getting there, but am very concerned about the "punkiness" of certain portions of this piece. It looks ok setting on the pedestal, but am thinking it'll just fall apart when it comes time to fasten it.

So, Katherine came up with the idea that I should make "feet" for the pedestal and incorporate them into some of the nooks and crannies.

Finish line just moved a little farther away again - not so far that I can no longer see it, but far enough that I know it'll take a couple more days to finish this project up.

Oh, well.

After hours and hours and hours (not really) of searching, these two pieces (the ones on the outside) jumped out at me as possibilities. The idea was to incorporate them as best as possible into the pedestal to make them look sort of like branches or roots - again depending on how one is looking at it.

Set up the first one, drew some scribe lines, and hoped the scribe lines would be fairly easy to follow (not).

Set up the second piece, eyeballed it some, drew some scribe lines, and thought I was ready.

This is going to be more challenging that originally thought. The irregular shapes of the feet made them almost impossible to grip in the vise, so a clamping system along with a scrap 2x6 screwed into  the bottom held it tight enough to work on.

Not too bad a fit.

One coat of stain to see how the two pieces meld into each other. Not bad, but not good either.

Looks kind of like a lava flow from a volcano, eh? Not as symmetrical as I'd like. Will probably need to grind off some of the toes on this foot.

Second piece fits pretty well, actually. Not nearly as difficult as the first piece.

All fastened up and ready for balancing test. Still pretty tippy to one corner of the table. Need another foot. This one kind of looks like a little boot that fits very well into the crevice.

I'm really glad Bobby has muscles I don't. Without his help, this table would have remained upside down forever.

Now with the carpet glides installed on the bottom, the last step is to cross over that elusive finish line by giving the feet their three coats of water based poly.

It's really satisfying to see this one come together. All through the process there were doubts, lessons learned, and trials and tribulations. I'll definitely be taking all of those along with me on my next project.