Free Form
One way to use live edges is in large, free pieces sealed and set as a surface area. Woodworkers can use bigger pieces of wood slabs for counters. In the live edge style, you can see the grain, knots, and imperfections in the wood, sometimes in many parts of the work or on a single side. The slab can be dipped in resin or can be covered with a flat piece of glass to keep liquid or food out of the wood itself.
Besides counters, this type of live edge wood can be used to create wood slab tables. Tables, like counters, use a large flat piece of wood and often preserve the natural features of the materials on the edge or a single side, in order to make them more functional.
Worked with Other Materials
Artists or woodworkers can work reclaimed or newly-harvested woods into pieces with their natural features showing through. In this style, the wood is incorporated with metal or other materials to produce a complex type of furniture.
Live edge slabs don't have to be flat. With curved pieces, artists can make the base and backs of chairs. Then, legs can be made by attaching hammered metal, glass, or industrial materials. These pieces of furniture can be highly functional and comfortable, but end up looking like a real work of art instead of a mass-produced piece of furnishing.