Joseph Gergen Works

Sometimes the story that led to the project is as interesting as the final project.

A year and a half ago or so a friend of mine asked me if I was interested in the old cedar decking he was replacing due to rotting ay key points. I said yes and put to use the heavily weathered planks in plethora of projects.

So now I am the reclaimed wood guy, right. So a year later my friend calls me us and says he helping a friend declutter her house to get ready to move. They get to the basement and there is some miscellaneous furniture and furniture parts leaning against the walls that she had accumulated form her parents. Been sitting there for quite a few years.

So my friend says, I know a guy. He brings the miscellaneous furniture parts home and gives me a call. “I got some wood you might like.”

I show up and we start looking at the pieces. A nice round oak table top. A long rectangular board, probably a coffee table top. A couple big lintels. And then this big, thick, drab oblong slab and a couple funky legs that may or may not have gone together.

I take it all. Wood is expensive and I am all about reclaiming and reusing.

So I get it all home and start looking at the big drab slab. I surmise it might have been a coffee table. But whatever it was the crappy layer of faded and dirty varnish on it wasn’t doing it any favors. A nice mucky brown look. And I’m thinking there’s got to be something better under that mess. Anything better than the muck on it.

I strip it and sand it. I’m like I have no idea what that is but it is striking. I like working with wood but I’m no wood whisperer. So I had to Google it.

Looking through all the various wood species I finally find the right look. An exotic for sure. So that brown dirty varnish was hiding a 1 and 3/4 inch Hawaiian Koa slab.

I about dropped. I had no idea what to do with that. My only though was don’t ruin it.

I cam up with an idea for a chair that would be simple and let the wood be the star.

I hope I did it justice.