Natural Man. If a tree falls in David Stine's forest, chances are he'll transform it into a piece of furntiure, one that bears all of the markings that the tree has acqured over the decades, including knots and even insect holes.
Stine fells and mills all the lumber he uses in his work, and as he watched this particular walnut board come off the mill, he new immediately that it would be a headboard on an otherwise simple bed design. The cherry and walnut king-size bed is 80 in. deep by 80 in. wide by 40 in. tall. The finish is linseed oil.
David Stine designs and crafts furniture, working only with wood that he has harvested and sawn himself, including black cherry, white oak, black walnut, tulip poplar and other local species...Every piece is hand crafted and hand finished using traditional methods of joinery and construction...The design of each piece is driven entirely by the inner beauty of the boards; as he saws each log, he sees what he will build...
“Handcrafted” and One-of-a-kind” are words often tossed about in a world where everything seems to be customizable. But wood furniture? What are they going to do, pick out the tree? Actually, yes. David Stine takes pride in spending more time in the woods than he does in his Dow, Illinois workshop. Not only does he select the perfect tree, he then mills every board and finishes every piece himself. The top of his Lamb Table, for example, is made from a single board of Northern red oak nearly nine feet long. $10,000. www.stinewoodworking.com
Designer Tandy Graham’s furniture and accent pieces give her space a warm and eye-catching appeal. To compliment what Graham calls the “feature wall" of her space, she selected two wooden sculptures by Illinois-based woodworker David Stine. Measuring eight feet tall by three feet wide, the eye-catching Bartlett Sculpture stands vertically with two black walnut sister boards flitch sawn and rotated on a base. And a smaller piece, called the Osage Flitch Sculpture, creates a horizontal balance in the room. It was carved from a small Illinois Osage Orange log chosen for its characteristic color. According to Graham, these two wooden pieces “add a warm feel and visual appeal that you might not otherwise have in a predominantly concrete and glass building."
The barn fire necessitated the building of a new storage facility for lumber and equipment. There won’t be any hay in this barn. The new building will also include a large loft-like studio where clients can visit and see finished works and works in progress. David broke ground and began sawing logs for the walls and floors in September. The studio will be completed in August. He is pictured above with his 8-year-old son Oskar.
New Kiln
Prior to the barn fire, all of David Stine’s lumber was air dried, which, depending on the size and thickness of the board, could take up to 5 years. The barn fire and the resulting loss of inventory prompted him to build a kiln behind his shop. Though he will continue to air dry boards in seasoning sheds, the kiln will enable him to dry boards in as little as 8 weeks. In these pictures, freshly sawn slabs, some as wide as 44 inches, are loaded into the kiln.
Summer Fire
A devastating barn fire in July 2007 destroyed a family barn containing a season’s worth of hay, antique woodworking equipment and two years’ worth of old growth seasoned lumber, valued at over $125,000. David Stine spent much of the late summer and fall, and every available opportunity since then, harvesting and sawing new logs to rebuild his inventory.
