In early 2018, my partner and I pickled up a lovely slab of wood from an Arcata lumber yard. We split it into two pieces, then applied quite a bit of human labor to bring them into shape.
Over the course of a dozen or so short work days we planed and sanded it into a shape we were happy with. Anna Marie welded, ground, and painted the the base. We assembled it and transported it to our new home almost a year after we had first gotten the slab.
The final result was worth the effort.