Life has a peculiar way of intertwining beauty and danger. I encountered a unique opportunity to craft a White Oak Epoxy River Table using wood from a tree in my yard that fell and nearly took the life of my beloved mother-in-law. This is the story of resilience, craftsmanship, and the transformation of tragedy into art.
We had a White Oak that was at least 150 years old in our yard. It had a huge, beautiful canopy with broad branches. We had an arborist come assess its health and they said it was generally in good health but had a split in the trunk we’d need to keep an eye on. Time went on and the tree continued to stand tall.
On the fateful day, my mother-in-law was gardening in our yard. She could hear the tree making popping noises and distanced herself from it. Within an hour or so, it fell with a thunderous crash. Realizing she was near that tree just a short time ago left us a little shaken and filled with gratitude for her escape.
When we had the tree service come to clean up the felled tree, they offered to leave some of the wood with us in large pieces for slab cutting. We were able to then harvest the wood from this both loved and feared tree to continue the memories with it.
The first project from this tree was this standing desk for my wife. She wanted it extra wide so I had to configure some of the pieces together. On the next tree we have to take down, we’ll ask them to cut the slabs longer so the slabs will be ideal for dining tables and large desks. The epoxy river is the first f the many creations I’ll make from this tree. I guess I better make the next one for my mother-in-law – I think she’s earned it!
