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This is the second vanity I built as part of our complete bathroom remodel, this one in the master bath. I found these salvaged redwood slabs, along with the blue stained pine used for the guest vanity, at a local saw mill that uses fire damaged and beetle killed timber. I’m happy I was able to give them new life in our home as a live edge vanity.

On to the build. Check out the video of the process below, read the article, or both.

Tools

• Circular saw
• Jig Saw
• Chalk Line
• Measuring Tape
• Router
• Drill
• Band Saw
• Jointer
• Block Plane

Step 1 – Planning and Layout

None of the slabs were wide enough to accommodate the sinks, so I had to put two of them together. Luckily I had two slabs that were sawn in sequence so I could bookmatch them. I spent a lot of time measuring, marking, eyeballing, and “reading” the wood, trying to make the best use of the natural size, shape, and features.

Step 2 – Rip Cuts

After establishing the layout I wanted I cut the inside edges of both slabs with a circular saw, using a long hardwood board as a straight edge.

Since the vanity would be installed against the wall, one of the slabs needed two flat edges. I made the other rip cut on the bandsaw.

Step 3 – Flattening

I used the router sled method for flattening the slabs. I had to build the rails and sled, but that’s for another post. 

Step 4 – Jointing

I ran the slabs through the jointer to square and flatten the edges.

I wasn’t entirely happy with the fit after jointing, so I did some fine tuning with a hand plane and scraper.

Step 5 – Floating Tenons

I used floating tenons to give the joint some extra stregnth and stability. I cut mortises with a router, referencing on the top faces of both slabs so the cuts would line up perfectly. Then cut tenons to fit.

Step 6 – Glue Up

I was in a terrible hurry doing the glue up, and didn’t get any pics or video. Just picture lots of clamps.

Step 7 – Sink Holes

Using the template that came with the sinks, I measured and marked the locations for the cut outs.

I cut the rough openings by making plunge cuts with a circular saw, staying well inside the lines. Then finished with a hand saw.

Using the same sink template, I made another cut out on a peice of plywood. Then filed and sanded to get an exact match with the sink profile. 

I then used this as a template to make the final cuts with a router.

Step 8 – Epoxy

There were some knots and holes that needed to be filled on both slabs. I found that when working with softwoods like redwood and pine, quick setting epoxy works best. I experimented with several slow setting epoxies, and found that they were just absorbed into the wood grain and required many applications to build up enough to fill in a large hole. Quick set epoxy has problems as well, you have to work quickly, it has a tendency to form lots of bubbles, but it worked best for this project. I planed down excess with a hand plane after full cure.

Step 9 – Sanding

I sanded down rough spots and router marks, working up to 220 grit with a random orbital sander. To smooth the live edge, I used a fine abrasive scrubbing pad and sandpaper just held in hand.

Step 9 – Finishing

For the final finish I used wipe on polyurethane. I normally prefer a simple mineral oil finish or something similar, but since this countertop will be exposed to water regularly, I needed something more durable and waterproof. I applied 12 coats, with sanding in between.

Step 10 – Installation

I built a long, narrow cabinet for the countertop to rest on, with spaces for the sinks as well as two drawers. This was mounted to the wall with cabinet screws into studs and blocking that I placed before finishing the wall. I test fit the top to make sure everthing looked good. The corner was not quite square, so I had to scribe cut the left edge of the top.

With everything looking good, I mounted the sinks to the underside of the counter top, set the whole thing in place, and secured the top to the cabinet with lag screws from underneath. I drilled the holes in the cabinet larger than the lag screws to accomodate movement of the slab.

I then connected the sink drains, and installed the wall mounted faucets.

Step 11 – Drawer Fronts

I cut the remaining slab into 4 pieces to fit the drawer and sink fronts. Since the countertop was narrower on one end, the drawer fronts needed to be thinner than the full 8/4 thickness of the slab so the right most drawer would still fit underneath the top. I resawed the 4 pieces to 4/4 and saved the the other sides for another project.

I followed the same process that I used on the first slabs; flattening, epoxy, planing, sanding, and finishing with polyurethane.

Last step was installing the drawers and drawer fronts. I used hot glue to align the fronts and tack them in place, then screwed from the inside.

This was a challenging and rewarding build, and I’m happy with the result. I got to develop my woodworking skills, and ended up with an attractive and useful piece that we get to enjoy every day.