Reimagining Oak

My association with Oak, perhaps like yours, was the “not-pine” hardwood— a sort of check in the box for decency in qualify furniture. I grew up with Oak flooring, Chests, dressers and other wood creations of the like. I also grew up around many oak trees, and would watch squirrels pick acorns in the fall, and chase each other in the spring.

Now a few things have, in my eye, bored the species to a commodity: interrupting the grain, and discoloration. When we stand next to a mighty oak, we can rest under its width, scan its massive hulk, its ability to destroy a roof, and do not generally think of it as small, as it is typically used. Envision flooring: every three inches a plank is interrupted with another plank, backwards, upside down, in some cases like parquet, even perpendicular against each other. There is no room for nature’s harmonious symmetry, or the story of the grain. Even with much furniture, a new glued in plank interrupts the last with little thought to their connection or direction.

It wasn’t until I saw this giant single oak slab in a lumberyard upstate NY that I was able to reimagine oak.

The wood speaks for itself, the grain beautifully points towards the head of the slab and leads toward a playful swirling near end. The wood is so symmetrical that you can even see it even began to crack down its center during the drying process. Also, aren’t the pink, brown and yellow hues so rich, even raw?

That second issue I see in many antiques is that perhaps oak was undervalued, and stained much darker to fabricate an elegance closer to black walnut or mahogany. By doing so, the furniture loses some of its unique multi-varied colors. And as the general aesthetic of homes gravitate toward the log cabin, Airbnb friendly, minimalistic, and naturalistic vibe, so should our furniture reflect their environs: both indoors, and out.

It is with these thoughts that I made on a red oak coffee table highlighting a beautiful single slab in its integrity. 

It was one of the final cuts of a log, so one end of the slab thinned out as the tree grew narrower towards the top. From that fact, I centered the slab on the legs where it was thickest, and let the thin part suspend in the air to showcase that fact. And also, I knew the client I was crafting it for didn’t have children who might pull it down and was very careful with her furniture. 

This is a simple demonstration of how we can reimagine oak, in all its beauty, strength, life and energy in furniture.

Thanks for reading.

Luke Benjamin Paige