We had bought furniture that was blond and good-looking. The dining room table top was a laminate, oak-faced. It began to pop and rise with some moisture damage. I wanted to reconstruct the top out of solid oak. My opportunity arose when I had secured the services of a furniture maker to fashion a new front door for our Ames home based upon our own design. Upon completion, it was beautiful. I asked him if he would do the table top, but only if I could “apprentice” with him. And so I did — from driving down to Woodsmith to pick out the lumber (quarter-sawn white oak, same as the front door), to milling, dimensioning, gluing, sanding and finishing. I naively felt I had learned enough to go ruin some lumber on my own. This is the result of our “collaboration.”
Terry Pickett 