trinity episcopal playground tree

trinity episcopal playground treeTrinity Episcopal Playground tree

A couple of years ago, my buddy architect Joey Leavitt, called and said that the beautiful old pecan tree in the childrens play ground of the Trinity Episcopal church was being taken down (next door to his office).  I drove the five blocks up pine street to get a better look.  And was happy to purchase what the tree service insisted was trash.

The base of the tree was almost completely hollow.  There was some really nice heartwood further up into the massive structure of the tree.  But, it clearly had signs that of metal.  Which also typically sends an old tree straight to the city dump. 

It was more than worth our trouble to use the metal detecorl throughout the very slow slabbing process in order to save some of of this historical old master, and shade tree to generations of children.

This is all we have so far.  The remainder is still drying and awaiting the final kiln drying process.  But for now, this piece, along with a few other broken pieces, just might make something pretty special.

Trinity Episcopal Playground tree

Robin Wade
Robin Wade Furniture is a celebration of nature—a melding of a forward thinking commitment to the environment and a quiet, harmonious design aesthetic. From his "slow studio" in North Alabama, award-winning wood artist Robin Wade designs and crafts one-of-a-kind handmade furniture. Years before a piece is ready to enter a client's home or a gallery, the process begins—naturally—with the tree. Sustainably harvested, each specimen of hardwood is flitch sawn into natural-edge wood slabs, debarked by hand with a draw knife, and stacked to dry, usually for years, before the final cure in the kiln. From here, Wade and his team use both hand and power tools to bring Wade's vision to life, and then finish each piece with a hand-rubbed oil blend. Each organic furniture creation by Robin Wade Furniture balances the raw, natural beauty of environmentally, locally sourced hardwoods with minimally invasive, clean lines—a juxtaposition Wade calls both rustic and modern. “I haven’t yet found a better artist than nature,” he says.
robinwadefurniture.com
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