Actually, it's local wood. If you love big slab tables, but are wary of where these marvelous pieces may be coming from, Urban Hardwoods is an amazing resource. All of these local heritage trees have been carefully salvaged after being lost to fire, storm, disease or urban growth in the Seattle area.
Started by Jim Newsom, who began salvaging beached logs with his tugboat from the shores of Elliott Bay in the late 1990's, Urban Hardwoods now stocks a ton of slabs from many different kinds of trees: Madrone, Ash, Elm, Cedar, Walnut and Maple to name just a few...
These slabs can all be seen online and ordered for use as a table, window sill or any kind of furniture that you can imagine. We're currently working with a client who is in regular email contact with Urban Hardwoods and they having been sending him new pics of pieces they think he'll like. They take care of all the cutting, finishing, base and shipping.
Slabs are very popular right now. We think using these trees is the way to go. (Thanks, Bruce C.!)
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Beautiful.
I always get upset when big trees come down. What satisfying work it must be.
Urban Hardwoods furniture is available locally from Designlush in the New York Design Center.
To the trade, but tell 'em Patrick sent you!
I live in Seattle and am an interior designer. I love the products that Urban Hardwoods offers but I had a bad experience with them and cannot recommend them. I bought a sofa table from them and wanted to have it altered to a bathroom vanity. I talked to the owner (nice guy) who promised they could do it well and they sent someone out to measure as we wanted it to fit exactly. To my chagrin, the piece arrived chopped almost in half (when you are paying for an expensive piece of wood this is asinine!). It was supposed to fit exactly in a certain space and it was at least 10 inches short! On top of that, the legs were uneven and wobbled horribly. They butchered a very expensive piece and refused to give any sort of refund (since they did destroy half the piece!) or send anyone out to repair it. Such a shame.
Beautiful stuff.
have been building custom furniture for over 30 years. I have been with Urban Hardwoods for over 2 years; building and now spending most of my time at the log yard where we start the processing of continuing the life of these heritage logs. Having started my woodworking career with a 3 year apprenticeship in Japan, it is very satisfying and rewarding to be able to see the beginning of a beautiful piece of furniture while still in log form. It was distressing to read of the problem experienced by one of your subscribers. I would urge that person to contact us.
Thank you again
Stephen Barney
Urban Hardwoods
206.550.3588
That last comment I posted for Stephen, who emailed me and wanted to get in touch with Chakamush. Chakamush, give a call, they seem like good folks!