About 8-9 months ago we had in mind an idea to make a new table for ourselves. This meant we had to make room. So we posted our current table on Craigslist and it sold right away, and I got lots of a requests to make custom tables. This was great at first, but as a hobby, I eventually had to pump the brakes. After seeing several coveted tables delivered while we were still eating on a metal folding table, we are finally getting around to making our own new table.
The big oak planks were reclaimed from the floor of an old barn near Pawnee, Illinois around 2006. My buddy/masonry mentor, "JP" and I were driving into town for lunch during a workday and saw a "For Sale" sign along the side of the road. As JP and I often treasured junk and antique tools, (emphasis on "junk," for myself anyway) we stopped and peeked at what they had for sale. The lady there didn't have much that caught our eye, but I kicked up some straw in the side of the barn and noticed a stack of thick quartersawn Red Oak planks. I mentioned them to the lady and asked her if they were for sale. "Sure," she replied, "Whattaya say? 5 bucks?" As her other half was nowhere in sight, she was just glad to get rid of them. They didn't look like much. Covered in sooty barn dirt and decomposing straw, they were hardly recognizable as oak.
$7 later, I was a happy picker and they have set in my garage gathering dust much the same way as they had before for the past 7 years. Stored in Illinois, loaded on a trailer, hauled to Texas. Moved in Texas half of a dozen places or so. Until finally, a few weeks ago, I began unearthing the circle-sawn, lacy quartersawn oak figuring that must be older than you and I put together.
