How to hold up a tabletop

When I spotted the piece of bubinga many years ago, it struck me that it would make a beautifully shaped table – the live edge providing a unique shape with the transition from sap wood to heart wood figure adding to the look. So, I bought it and then moved it with me to a couple of houses over a couple of decades. 

Finally, I am ready to build a coffee table from the wood. The top will need almost no work, just squaring up the two ends and the long straight edge. I will finish the top with a “natural” or clear film coat of some sort to pop and show-off the grain. The question is what sort of base would support the top properly while showing it off attractively. 

At first, I thought of turning three substantial (bulky) legs of differing diameters, maybe fluting them to add texture. I’d join them with aprons, but the apron under the live edge would curve to accommodate the retreating shape of the live edge. I’d paint the undercarriage black to dematerialize it. 

Another Idea was to make two rectangular end assemblies again joined by aprons and create curving cross supports connecting them across the length of the table. Squared up ends to match the three rectilinear edges and the curved cross pieces to invoke the live edge. 

After roughly sketching them out, neither of these ideas caught my fancy. They would work, but I was not excited by either of them. 

Then I went for a walk with my stepdaughter at the Arboretum. They have a library furnished with furniture made by George Nakashima and she suggested I look at those pieces. I checked out how the slab tables he made were constructed and found he used modified versions of trestle bases. That solution seems perfect.  

I may cantilever mine base with heavier construction on the wide end of the table morphing to a more delicate design under the narrow end. I won’t be building the base from bubinga, but I also will not be painting it. I am considering red elm, mahogany or cherry for the base. 

So, what do you think? What sort of base would you build? What species of lumber.  

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