Hoffman Woodworks

Moving into our new house we realized that we had more room. More room for stuff that grownups have. I also had a large enough garage to build stuff in. We had a larger living room, with a fireplace and room for stuff, like a coffee table. We went to a few local stores and everything we kind of liked was "close" but way too overpriced. All the designs were missing something, I new I wanted to build ours. I just found myself "uninspred" in coming up with a design.

Until I found this Instructable  http://www.instructables.com/id/Fireplace-Coffee-Table/

I had also picked up some amazing lumber from an estate sale. 

It was "On"..

I found the burner that I wanted to use from ModaFlame http://www.modaflame.com/Ethanol-Burners_c_16.html

Basically the table is based around the burner, and the tones from the cottonwood lumber. I wanted the entire table to have an industrial/rustic type feel..without being too country. 

I was unsure how hot the burner would actually get, but I new that I wanted a buffer to protect the wood. While browsing the local Lowes I found some really neat tile to inlay an protect the wood. It had the texture and look of walnut. PERFECT!

I prepped all the lumber, cut the tile and began assembly. I used pocket screws and wood glue to join the table top. When it was finished I realized that the wood top didnt have the stability I wanted. The main factors being the cottonwood is relatively soft lumber and I had to plane the boards down thinner than what I planned, to get rid of the resaw marks. I picked up a piece of 3/4" MDF and mounted it to the bottom side of the table. I was able to cover it up with Walnut edge boards which also tied the whole table together. I really didnt forsee needing this but the flatness, heft and structural stability of the MDF was a definite bonus.

Inlayed the tile with the router and a template that I made that would fit the tiles and burner. This was the scariest part due to the obvious risk of screwing the whole top up and also hitting a few pocket screws that just happen to be misplaced. 2- $28 straight cut router bits later, the tiles fit perfectly.

This cottonwood lumber is awesome, with the many colors and dark knots. But the biggest problem with the cottonwood, is that it stinks,terrible. It smells like dog pee. Really bad. Like one of those wrotten stenches that never leaves your clothes, your shop, or your clothing.

Since I didnt want our entire house to smell like a dog park, I put 3 coats of Minwax sanding sealer on it. After the sanding sealer had a few days to cure I sanded the entire surface down with 300 grit and added 5 coats of Minwax wipe on polyurethane in a glossy finish. 

I went for the black pipe base becuse it is sturdy, easy and trendy. Gave the pipes a coat of flat black enamel, then attched it to the top.

The ethanol burner puts out very little heat, but the ambiance of a blue flame in the middle of your livingroom coming out af a gorgeous table cant be matched. It puts out about a 6" flame for 45 minutes to an hour. The metal of the burner does stays very hot for at least an hour after the flame has gone out.

The final product is perfect, one-of-a-kind piece. We have really enjoyed it, cant imagine our livingroom without it.