When I saw this piece of wood it was saying to me "I'm not a lamp base, I'm a table."
It is particularly wonderful, showing you the entire tree. It's a vertical cross section, showing the natural edge, little worm holes, and a stress check right in the heart of the wood which came from drying in the kiln. I wanted to give some function to it, and maintain it's natural beauty, so it has legs and it's a table.
It was hand-planed and sanded specificially so that I would remove as little material as possible. It will always remain as it was when I first saw it, as close as I could get it with a finish on it.
The wenge butterflies act as stress stabilizers, so the heart check stays "in check."
Because the top is a single piece of wood, it will be prone to slightly twist with changes in temperature and humidity. Thus the leg assembly can be adjusted for twist or uneven flooring. It has an "independant suspension", which I've never seen on a piece of furniture before.
The finish is a hand-buffed conversion varnish, the most durable finish available.
It passed the "fat butt stress text" when a woman of ample proportions thought it was a bench at an art show