Have a seat and I’ll tell you a story.
Have A Seat Walnut Bench By Greg Wood
A customer of mine had a tree which needed to be removed from their yard. It was a Walnut tree, approximately 24 inches in diameter. The tree was cut down, sawed in to 2.5 inch thick timber slabs, and then air-dried for three years until the moisture level was below ten percent.
Walnut Lumber Slabs
The customer called me, with ideas of some furniture they would like to have built from their lumber. They wanted a bench, two end tables, a desk and a head-board.
Bench design
I drew up design plans to represent the client’s personal tastes and desires while simultaneously planning how to best utilize the slabs . After the plans were finalized, I use chalk to layout the lumber with respect to the grain figure.
Slabs with chalked layout
Timber slab plan for bench back
Time to execute the plan.
The very beginning
The beginning stages of the bench and the tables.
Boards glued up for table tops
Boards cut in to shape
All clamped up
And viola, two end tables built from a tree in the yard,
and a bench with contour shaped back.
Walnut bench with contour shaping on the back
Detail of contour shaping on the bench back
Now on to the desk and head-board. From tree to timbers to fine furniture.
