Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Making a Table Out of Local Wood

Recently, a student at Princeton University named Frankie reached out. He had taken part in a tour of Herrontown Woods we gave in October to professor Andy Dobson's class on the Ecology of Fields, Rivers and Woodlands. Each student does a special project, and Frankie wanted to build a table out of local wood. He's from California, and has memories of a table his grandfather once made out of a slice of redwood. More than ten feet across, the slice had taken a day to cut by hand.

We arranged for Frankie to come on a day when our chainsaw virtuoso Victorino was working at Herrontown Woods. Lacking a car, Frankie took the 606 NJ Transit bus from Princeton University up to Princeton Community Village, then hiked through Herrontown Woods to meet us at Veblen House at 7:30am. 

Victorino first showed Frankie some tables he had made from a fallen maple tree. 
One invaluable service Victorino and his assistant Wilbur do at Herrontown Woods is to fell dead trees that pose a hazard along trails. After some discussion, it was decided to take a slice of wood from one of the many ash trees that unfortunately have had to come down.
The markings of insects added interest to the grain. The tree rings tell the story of the tree's life before it succumbed to an introduced insect, the Emerald ash borer.
With remarkable precision, Victorino cut legs for the table and discussed with Frankie various ways to attach them to the bottom. Having lived and traveled in various latin american countries, Frankie could easily converse in Victorino's native tongue. 

On a wintry day, brisk and bright, the whole adventure made us as happy as Frankie, as we gave him a lift back to the university with his freshly hewn table kit.