Ship hatch dinning room table

A few months back a couple came to me with three "ship hatch covers". They live in a community house and throw quite a few dinner parties. They asked me if i would be willing to build them a giant dinning room table with these hatch covers. These things were large, dirty, heavy, and mean. So, after a long silent stint of staring, scratching my head, and sizing up the S.O.B.s, i had made up my mind... i dont want anything to do with these damn things, so I said, absolutely!
  I had been kicked out of a dumpster almost a week earlier as i was pulling some old wooden lath out to use on another project, so I knew there were some good, old timbers they were throwing out. I went back to the old store being worked on, where just a few days earlier i had been told get the hell out of their dumpster, and got some old true 2x8 ceiling rafters. They worked perfect for the frame and legs of the table. I chose to use traditional methods of construction using almost no power tools with the exception of ripping strips of veneer on the tablesaw to conceal raw cuts. It took a bit longer to build but at the end of the day my clients were thrilled and ive been invited to not one but two dinner parties since!  -john

more photos to come...