Rather than inflicting culture upon the tree....
Where the miller takes logs and makes them straight to suit our will, I strive to bring out the natural shapes and forms inherent in each tree. The organic forms sculpted by time and environment will grace any living space.
The pieces that leave my shop are defined by 3 principles:
Quality
Composition
Finish
Quality
Interlocking joinery creates furniture that wants to stand up, rather than being forced to stand by screws and glue. This creates items that will last indefinitely, with no worry of the commonly seen antique failures of screw pull-out or cracking glue. These will last for generations, if not centuries, and will lack the wobble and cheapness of the common hairpin leg.
100% wood option: While glue is often still used to improve fit and reduce wobble, pieces can be specially constructed to omit this all together. In these cases, additional time is taken to produce fits down to .005 inches, and joints are stabilized in all axis of movement.
Composition
Many woods themselves are not homogeneous materials, containing not only patterns in the grain but different colors between sapwood and heartwood.
The layout and material selection of each piece is carefully considered, to bring these elements to the eye utilizing their natural forms and complimentary elements. Each piece is addressed as a work of art, a collaboration between the tree and the carpenter.
Finish
When the construction of the piece is complete, the job is roughly half done. All negative surface features such as knots and cracks are filled and sanded flush. Surfaces are meticulously sanded in a 3 step process to produce the smoothest surface that wood is capable of.
Finish is applied in innumerable coats over a period of 1-2 weeks. Coats are allowed to cure, then are sanded again to combat raising grain and atmospheric dust. By the end of the process, tabletops are impeccably smooth to the touch, easy to clean, and will last generations.
Large amounts of epoxy/resin are eschewed for the warmth and ductility of absorbed finishes. I don’t want to turn the wood into a piece of plastic.