Floorboards

I made this table for my next door neighbour about a month back. It's made from old elm floorboards he pulled up from his house. Some of the boards were over 12" wide, which for me was very exciting because floorboards don't come that wide anymore.

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New York, Gina and George Nakashima

the conoid chair

I'm about 1 week away from the two year anniversary of a decision that changed my life and I have this glorious chair to thank.

I was in New York visiting my girlfriend Gina and she was busy with her last week of school. I did the classic touristy things (galleries, museums and shopping) during the day and we'd meet up in the evenings and hang out and chat (mainly on her fire escape with a pack of camel cigarettes-back when I used to smoke)

I remember I was in The MET and I'd been walking for hours in shoes that were really hurting my feet. I ended up in a quiet section with a huge wooden slab coffee table with some chairs around it. I sat in one of the chairs and lost all ability to move. This was the most comfortable chair I'd ever sat in. I felt deeply moved and had the urge to tell someone about it. I turned around and said to the nearest employee "this is the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in." She looked at me and said really quite dryly "it's a George Nakashima." Now of course at the time I'd never heard of George Nakashima and I had no idea what she meant by this. All I could think was whoever made this chair understood the human form. I'd never imagined sitting so low to the ground would feel so right. When I finally got up after close to 5 minutes sitting in the chair I looked at it and thought what a glorious piece of woodwork it was.

I left the museum and the chair and continued my day of New York tourism but a little seed had been planted in me. I wanted to make furniture like that too. I wanted to use my hands, work with wood and make nice honest designs. I was too scared to tell any of my family and friends that I wanted to make furniture because I thought they'd think I was being flakey but I can't keep a secret and within 2 weeks everyone knew. Within 5 weeks of that trip to visit Gina in New York I had my first job working with a furniture maker in Etobicoke. Now almost 2 years later I've got my own business. Lost Nation is my little sappling and it's slowly growing and it's thrilling and terrifying and exciting and I love it.

http://www.nakashimawoodworker.com/

The Barrack Table

material: reclaimed pine, reclaimed fir and slate

old nail holes

I don't know what the best part about making this table was. I think the highlights for me was in the final hours trying to get it into the van for delivery in the pouring rain. What should have been a ten minute job turned out to take an hour because I was convinced it didn't fit inside. Which it did-I was just being dumb. Anyways the wood in this table is from huge old roof beams big 12"x 12" that were cut down ages ago when England still had lots of trees. The legs are douglas fir and I believe they were roof beams too. The black strip running down the middle of the table top is slate. We wanted a table where you can put hot dishes on it and not worry about burning the wood. She's a good chunky piece of work. I really think my dad needs to save those oak beams from the old farm house before they rot into the earth. Imagine how sexy one of these tables would be in oak!

Recycling Firewood

Recylcing Box

Material: Pallet Wood

When Hazzy was up in Mold I had one glorious week of non-stop creativity in the wood shop. I think it seems glorious because my life was easier then. It was pre-dog. Not that the dog isn't great. I love him sooooooo much, he's a little angel...but life with a dog is a lot more work.

I think my favourite thing I made that week was this Recycling box. Originally intended for our kitchen it somehow ended up as our firewood box right beside the wood stove. Which is fine by me. I love having a punch of red by the stove. It still is recycling too. 80% of the wood we burn is recycled.

Canada Coffee Table

Material: Pallet Wood

It's a very wet cloudy day so why not put some cheery photos up. Here's the coffee table we made for James and Annie back in september. Canada wasn't my idea I swear. Although I think it looks rather natural there. We made this with just hand tools and I'm very proud of that. It was also before Knowstone so didn't even have a woodshop. Just a picnic table. We kept on having to come inside when it would rain. We grab the chisels and saws and make a mad dash across the garden into the kitchen and then 3 minutes later the sun would come out and back out we'd go. We did that about 15 times one day.