This story begins in the spring of 2017 with a tree falling in our client’s yard during a storm. We were asked to advise on the best way to turn the recently downed hackberry tree into lumber that could be used to make a desk or table. We have been very lucky to find clients that are like-minded in their desire to give new life to old things and build furniture that has a rich story behind it. The client did the sawing (see pic), but we helped by coating the ends with a product that slows down moisture loss which if unchecked can lead to unwanted cracks. We then introduced the client to our good friend, Tom the Sawyer, and went with him to collaborate with Tom and determine what thicknesses we wanted and how to optimize for the figure in the wood (note the lack of beard as I was transitioning careers). The wood sat indoors drying at the client’s house for over a year until he and his son delivered it to our shop. During this consultation we picked which pieces we would use and what final products they wanted. We settled on a live-edge dining room table, a similar live-edge coffee table and lastly a matching sofa table. You can see the chalk line on the wood as we laid out the overall look of the table, picking the pieces with the most exceptional figure (grain pattern).
Once we agreed to the orientation of the wood, we began to plane the material for thickness gave it a flat edge in preparation for gluing it up. This procedure produces more sawdust than one might expect (see pic). You can tell from the large check (crack) in the end of the board coming out of the planer that we are going to have plenty of epoxy work in our future.
Simultaneous to the planing and jointing, we began cutting the metal for the legs. You can see in the picture the refined materials are ready to go. We welded up the legs and sent them off to be powder-coated flat black.
With the legs at the power-coating shop, we began the job of filling the cracks and knots with black epoxy. This process can scare people as it definitely looks worse before it gets better.
We decided to go with at water-based solution as hackberry can tend to yellow with oil-based solutions and that didn’t match the client’s vision. Several coats to go on each piece and we still have to attach the legs, but we are rapidly closing in on the finish line (my beard gives an indication of how long this project has been underway). Hackberry is one of those woods that is often overlooked, but I think has amazing character.
