Pecan Coffee Table — Router Sled Work

Building a coffee table from pecan slabs I milled myself. The wood came off my sawmill as rough-cut planks — getting them flat enough for a tabletop means a router sled and a lot of patience.

Router Sled

A router sled is a simple jig: two steel rails, a crossbar, and a router with a flattening bit. You run it back and forth across the slab, taking off a little at a time until the surface is dead flat. No planer on earth takes a slab this wide.

Running the router sled across the pecan slab

Planing in progress — sawdust everywhere

The Grain

Pecan has a grain pattern that rewards the work. Once the router cleans off the rough-cut surface, you can see the character in the wood — tight grain lines, natural color variation, and the kind of figure that makes each slab unique.

Low angle showing the pecan grain after planing

Slab surface detail — knots and grain lines

Overhead view of the planing setup with lumber stacks in the background

Router Sled Flattening

In October 2025, I ran the slabs through a DIY router sled to get them dead flat. The setup is a Porter-Cable router riding on steel angle iron rails with a level for reference — the router planes the slab surface as it slides across.

Router sled in action

Surface close-up after routing

Top-down view of the pecan slab

What's Next

Once both slabs are flat, they get sanded through the grits, then joined for the tabletop. Pecan finishes beautifully with a simple oil — no stain needed.