Strategic Milling and Memory Wood with Dan and Marcy

Stories about Customer Collaboration

One of the most exciting aspects of this business is bringing our customer’s stories to life. Through sustainably sourced, hand-made, heirloom furniture, we create pieces that last for generations and bring families closer together and closer to nature.

Today, we will continue our series that features some of the incredible customers we’ve had the pleasure of working with and highlight their incredible stories.

Strategic Milling and Memory Wood with Dan and Marcy

Initially, Dan and Marcy contacted me to remove a tree that was damaging a home they had just purchased. They didn’t need the tree initially but did not want it to go to waste and knew that we were certified for tree removal. So they contacted me, thinking I might be able to use it for a project and repurpose the wood.

About a year after I removed the tree, Marcy gave us a ring to see if we still had the log, and it turned out we still did. She commissioned a table from the log for the new house that was being upgraded and refurbished. Though it was our first foray into memory wood furniture at the time, we jumped at the opportunity to bring the vision to life.

Creating Tables with a Single Log

The challenge with memory wood pieces is that all of the wood for the table and benches needs to come from a single tree. The current standard in the furniture industry is to use random boards from random trees purchased at a lumber yard. Or, in the case of much mass-produced furniture, young trees are cut down en mass, then turned to pulp and pressed into particleboard, hardly even resembling a tree any longer. 

There’s no provenance with most modern furniture. When building memory wood pieces, the need for strategy from the second the milling starts is crucial. You need to make sure you can get every cut, every slab, and every dimensional piece of lumber you need from one log. Art that is based on continuity that not many furniture makers can boast proficiency with. In fact, we are one of only a handful of wood crafters in the US who have the ability to take down a tree and turn that very same tree into a custom work of art. 

Preservation and Elation

With this being our first memory wood table, we had the opportunity to learn so much, and we worked incredibly hard to salvage and use as much of the log as possible. It was an amazing exercise as we advocate for the use of responsibly harvested and sustainable trees, and this was an elevated version of the concept of repurposing and sustainability. 

The table came out beautifully, and Dan and Marcy were thrilled with the new addition to their home, especially as it was made from a tree that was essentially returning to its roots with a whole new purpose. 

Marcy was even sweet enough to leave us this incredibly kind review!

“FROM TREE TO TABLE.  We hated that we had to cut this tree down and even worse was the thought that it would just be cut into firewood and burned or shredded into mulch. 

One day, as I was stopped at a traffic light, I noticed a farm & sawmill decal on the truck next to me.  I snapped a pic.  Little did I know what would come of that moment in time!

I contacted Avery Earwood at Wild Edge Woodcraft and the rest is history!  

He picked up our logs and returned them to us as a jaw-dropping masterpiece that will be cherished for generations.  All the wood used to create our table & benches is from our tree - with the exception of the walnut pegs holding the cross brace in place.

He milled the logs, kiln-dried them, and then he & his team went to work on our one-of-a-kind work of art.  Their craftsmanship and attention to detail are unparalleled.  Not a single piece of my vision was missed. 

These pictures really don't do it justice - it is truly breathtaking.  My husband was speechless when he saw it.  I *might* have shed a tear or two. We can't thank Avery and his team enough.

 If you are ever in the market for custom furniture, have a tree you want turned into usable lumber, or even turned into your own masterpiece - do yourself a favor and contact Avery at Wild Edge Woodcraft.   I promise you will not be disappointed.  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ are not enough for my review.”