We were asked to build a collaboration table, a coffee table and a shelf by a homeowner who had previously milled some of the trees on their land. The wood for the project was Red Oak (downed by a storm on May 19th 2013 near Kirkside, Missouri) and Mulberry (damaged in the same storm).
The wood had been sitting in the client’s greenhouse for several years and they wanted a few pieces with local provenance. The wood had been milled by our good friend Tom the Sawyer on location for the homeowner and this type of project was right up our alley.
Once we moved the wood to our shop, we started working on the coffee table. Some well-placed cuts, some time on the planer, lots of clamping and bob’s your uncle… coffee table complete.
The shelf was cut from a thick piece of mulberry, planed level, sanded and finished. The unique grain pattern combined with the black epoxy fill on some knots and cracks really brings the piece a unique look.
Last was the collaboration table. It is 6’ long by roughly 42” wide and fashioned from 4 red oak planks with an interesting grain pattern. We fixed some of the imperfections in the wood with black-tinted epoxy and glued up the table. The last step before sanding and finishing was to cut the table to its final length.
We applied several coats of our house finish and topped it all with some museum-grade wax. We welded some legs from 1×3 rectangular tubing, installed levelers and clear-coated the final product to align with the industrial look the client desired.
The three pieces combined are an excellent example of the “furniture with a story” that we love to create. A little bad luck from a storm in 2013 turned into a family keepsake in 2018.