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A TABLE WITH A STORY

FROM LIVING TREE TO A FINELY CRAFTED PIECE OF FURNITURE.

Clients Lucinda and Stuart asked me to make a very special table for
them, made from an oak felled in her late father’s field. The planks from
the tree had been left to air-dry in a shelter.
We thoroughly discussed design and features. I listened carefully to their
requirements and suggested a number of features that would complement
the oak, such as through-tenons and dovetailed cleats. We agreed on a
decorative ebony inlay on the table top and Lucinda asked me
to carve a short Latin sentence on the end apron as a special feature.
After we had agreed the design I had the timber kiln-dried at a local mill
and then delivered to my workshop. During the building of the table, I sent
regular photographs so that my clients could monitor progress. I thoroughly enjoyed building this challenging design and I think the features complimented the already beautiful English oak.

STORY OF THE OAK

Dear Duncan

“The oak tree grew at the edge of my parents’ field and came down in the storms of December 2013. They decided to save it as they thought it contained brown oak so they had it planked on site in February 2014 and left it to dry in the field shelter. My father then died in September 2015 and my mum couldn’t face dealing with the wood so gave it to me and we decided to have a table made from it. My parents had done a similar thing with a pear tree that had come down in the great storm of 1987 so I thought it would be nice to do the same in memory of my father. On this pear tree table he had commissioned a silver plaque detailing its history. Again we wanted to do the same but decided to have you carve in the wood as that seemed to be more in keeping with our plans. We struggled to find the right thing to say in English when Stuart suggest Latin, I did Latin at university. So the carving translates as “I am made from oak, died in 2013, reborn in 2018.”

Kind regards Lucinda

Coldframes

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