I was at Colonial Hardwoods picking up some rough lumber for another project and ran across some ambrosia maple. I took a quick photo, texted it to Kristi and to my sister, they both replied back quite quickly. Kristi with “Yes! I see my new desk” and Sheerie with “Hey can you make me a coffee table out of that?” I bought a bunch and I ended up making both the desk and the coffee table, this post is featuring my sisters coffee table.
What is Ambrosia Maple? It’s just regular maple that has been visited by certain beetles who left holes that allowed a fungus to discolor the wood.
Sheerie had a good notion of what she wanted in her table, she was very descriptive on the style, shape and color. We worked together on the plans and purchased the solid maple legs from a specialty leg supplier. Gluing up the table top was straight forward, I cut the aprons and attached them to the legs, then the top to the apron. Finished it with a 1/4 simple round over, and tons of sanding. She wanted a golden honey color, so I chose a natural amber shellac.
A simple style with a unique wood, made a beautiful coffee table.
jointing jig 
glue up of table top 
trim legs to length 
attaching apron 
squaring up the base 
dado cut and pin to attach the top 
smoothing with steel wool 
ambrosia maple 
artistic photo
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