Metamorphosis

I have had a custom workstation in the works for quite a while now. I've been fortunate enough to be embraced by our local Amish community and have had the privilege to work side by side with one of them in his workshop. I made several trips getting to know him and have captured these images over the course of the past year.  The Amish community is very private and they do not like being photographed. You will notice that the portraits in this series are either behind a hat or in complete sillouette to respect their wishes of anonymity.

Here is a stack of slab wood that came from a log that has been submerged in a Kentucky river for nearly two hundred years.  It is the product of the great logging boom that swept across our country during the 18th and 19th centuries.  Less than one half of one percent of the old growth forests in Kentucky still exist today.  They were cut almost to extinction.  When the logs were floated down river, some of them sank and never made it to the mill.  I recently helped with the reclamation of this piece of history and have crafted a custom workstation out of the wood.

Here is a shot of the slabs after being run through a planer and glued together.  I kept the "Live Edges" in tact for a more rustic feel.  This is a combination of the axe cut of the original lumberman and two hundred years of the river acting on it.  

I had an opportunity to use some historic tools including this draw knife to smooth the edges and create a look that works with what mother nature did before me.  I also went through a heck of a lot of sandpaper after hours of sanding.

After a generous amount of Danish Oil, she was assembled in the workshop.  The final dimensions are 3 feet by 8 feet.  It is bar height at  40" tall so that I can stand up and work or sit in a tall architects chair.  The mobility is awesome, I think this is the only way to go.

The proud owner.  I love the way the rustic feel offsets my life of high tech gadgetry.

Now that i've had a few days to get some work done, i'm already planning a bigger workstation!  It seems to be endless, but this piece of furniture will stay with me for years to come, i'm sure.  It's amazing to think that this desk represents several hundred years of history.  And the journey that it took from the virgin growth forest of America, the two hundred years it spent resting on the bottom of the river, and finally to arrive in my presence is fairly astonishing.  It truly is an heirloom piece to be passed down in my family.