A client came to me and asked if I could make him an Oak side table as a Christmas gift. This was Mid December. Not one to say no I asked him what he was looking for. He asked for a simple table to sit beside his mother’s chair so she could enjoy the view of the property from the window. Sounds simple enough so I asked what type of wood he wanted and size and so on. “Well,” he says “Not to make it more difficult I have this tree I cut down a while back” Remember this is mid-December. Not deterred I pressed on and asked if I could see the wood and asked how long it had been cut down into slabs. He figured about a year or so.

I just happened to be between projects at the time and had wanted to work from slab to finished project for an upcoming project and thought the Oak side table would be a chance to see how it goes. Making no promises I agreed to take on the project. He provided several slabs and I began work.

(more…)