I work at a custom stone fabrication company in Norcross, GA. Often times we end up with leftover scraps or stone that was fabricated incorrectly. In one instance, we accidentally made two travertine legs too short. We had to remake them for the client. The old ones sat in the shop taking up space. We came up with an idea to create a reception desk using the stone legs. We wanted to incorporate a wooden top to hold the legs together. The stone is called silver travertine and it has these linear streaks of cream and silver running through it. We decided that quartersawn white oak would go well with the legs as it also has linear grain. As much as I wanted a dark stained top that would make the ray fleck on the white oak pop out, we decided it wouldn't work with the stone. Instead, we went with a Belgium finish, which is almost grey in color. The first step was to mill the lumber and create the panel. I ran all the boards through the jointer and planer and pulled the panel together using #20 biscuits. The design called for a mitered apron that ran around the edges of the top. The miter would hide the seam and the apron would make the top appear to be 4"-thick. The challenge with this these types of aprons is to design for seasonal wood movement. A top this size could move as much as a quarter inch between the summer and winter seasons. The vast majority of the expansion and contraction occurs across the grain. This meant that the side aprons could not be fasten in such a way as to restrict the movement of the top - this would lead to the apron coming apart or the top cracking. To overcome this, I used cleats behind the apron with slotted screws. By screwing the apron to the cleat and the cleat to the underside of the top, I was able to create a pretty tight miter. As the top moves, the screws will slide along the cleat, but the miter should remain tight.
The other challenge was working with the stone...by myself. I wanted to create a modesty panel that would stretch across the front of the desk and that would connect the two stone legs. This panel would prevent the 150-pound legs from racking and falling over if someone leaned on it. To measure for the modesty panel I set up the desk - holding the legs with clamps and spreaders. Unfortunately, one of the clamps fell while I was removing the top and the legs both started falling. I was only able to catch one leg as I had the desk in my other hand.
I took the broken stone to my company and worked hard to glue the pieces back together. With the linear movement of the veins, I was able to match some epoxy to fill in the cracks without anyone being able to notice. Just to be sure, I made this leg point towards the wall. When I was satisfied with the glue up, I asked one of the guys at work to re-polish it for me. He did a great job, and the leg looks like new.
The finish came out well and works great with the Silver Travertine Legs. I also built a transaction top, which will hopefully aid in the signing of many checks and contracts in the near future.
