A Fantastic Pair of Burl/Root Tables (with an Aside on Custom Glass Fabrication)

These tables were another great Craigslist score. I was sitting in my chair the other night thinking "gee, I haven't looked at Craigslist in a while, I wonder what's out there tonight...", and what was out there, apparently, was these tables (listed, in an incredibly descriptive fashion, as "coffee table set". Hmmm). Chalk up one more score for Craigs Toolbox (the little craigslist viewer that is my secret weapon, find it at www.craigstoolbox.com - I'm not sure if it's still free, but whatever they might be charging for it, IT'S WORTH IT).
As is usually the case with these sorts of things, it was kind of hard to tell how good they were from the pictures, which, naturally, were horrible. The problem with these root tables is that sometimes they are coated in a super thick layer of goopy varnish, which is nearly impossible to strip off given the extremely detailed nature of these beasts. So, dragging my trusty assistant Matt along for the ride, we drove to SW Portland to check these puppies out.
Seeing them in person quickly allayed any fears that I may have had about their condition - these are simply a great pair of tables! The coffee table is 100% killer, with an awesome biomorphic glass top that would cost an ungodly amount of money to have made new. It's a great size, too - definitely substantial, but not so huge as to overwhelm most rooms. The side table is a little odd, size-wise - it would almost be better used as a coffee table with a bigger piece of glass on it. As it is (30" square), it's a bit small for a coffee table and a bit large for an end table - but with a 36-40" round piece of glass, it'd be a great coffee table size.
However, I will leave that up to the new owner. I'm always skittish about having new glass made, especially when it's a sizeable piece that's going to cost a bit of money. Since I sell so much stuff online, there's always the question of whether it's going to be more expensive to ship the glass safely then it would be to have a new piece fabricated at its destination. Shipping glass is always a risky proposition, unless one goes to the extra expense of crating it. So, the end result is usually that I need to leave certain things up to people's imagination - such as the fabrication of expensive pieces of glass.