the genesis of the “davemade” Harvest Tables
I have often been asked how I got started building Harvest Tables. Well I actually began building benches and then progressed from there.
The rough farm bench has historically been the single most requested piece of primitive furniture at Shady Lawn. These benches are not easy for me to find. When I do find them they are dirty, rough, splintery, loose, and are stained by paint and/or oil.
I did so much repair work on each bench that it was essentially the same as building one. When I couldn’t find enough old benches, I began building them out of reclaimed wood.
Ten years ago I sold these benches (and a whole line of other items) at the Walla Walla Farmer’s Market. A couple admired my benches and asked me if I could build a table to go with them. I agreed to build them one and told them that if they didn’t like it they didn’t have to buy it.
They loved the table and that was the beginning of a line of tables and benches that I build out of reclaimed wood. The majority of my pieces are made from historic barn-wood.
Harvest Table made from 1864 Aldrich Barn wood
The long relatively narrow Harvest Table is an iconic piece of country farm furniture. These tables were knocked together from whatever old wood was available and handy at the time. They were used to feed harvest crews that worked the fields back in the 1800′s and 1900′s. There was nothing special about their construction and after harvest they were knocked apart as quickly as they were knocked together in the first place. Therefore there are none of these harvest tables around.
The next few blogs will describe my approach to building Harvest Tables.
