… into other tables.
Let me tell you a little story. Once upon a time, I lived in a tiny mountaintop town in a big house with nearly an acre of land. I grew vegies, kept chickens and sheep and rabbits, and all was well, but the back of the house was gloomy. There was a big row of huge trees that blocked both light and the view across the valley. They were decorative conifers planted for privacy, and for the space they grew in, there were far too many. So I decided they Had To Go. Being non-native and overcrowded, there was no objection to my removing them. Here’s the fun bit. They were cryptomeria, or Japanese Cedar. It’s known as Sugi in Japan and Dhuppi in India, and in both places it is widely used for construction. The wood is fragrant, light and beautiful. The trees are also quite beautiful, with bronze-purple foliage in the winter. Unfortunately they also grow to 70m/230 ft, an outcome the original planter had not considered…

The view, revealed. Hiding this view was a bit of a crime, I feel
So well, I had most of them taken down. This opened a beautiful view across the valley, shone daylight on my vegetable garden, and after I had the timber milled on site, my cabinet-maker brother-in-law made me a large, simple table in exchange for the rest of the timber. I had no use for it except as firewood, which would have been a sinful waste, but I did have use for a large dining table. As I said, it was a big house…
The finished table was 3.1m/10ft long by 90cm/36in wide. It was impressive, and beautiful, and light for its size, one of the virtues of the timber. It has become one of my most prized possessions, although I no longer live in that big house, and has come with me through four house moves despite its size. So the time came to shorten the table to make it useful rather than a liability. Recently, I had a carpenter friend take 90cm/36in out of the middle, brace it and rejoin it edge to edge. I then sanded back the whole thing and refinished it with beeswax and turpentine and lemon oil. It’s still beautiful, just a more useful length now, at 2.2m/7ft. Perfect for Christmas lunch!
What of the 90cm/36in that was removed, I hear you ask? Well, today I turned it into another table. I smoothed the edges, sanded it back too, and attached some hollow legs with adjustable feet. I’ll be giving it several layers of clear-coat marine varnish, as it’s going to become my front porch dining table. Perfectly sized for two or four, the right width, light enough to move around easily, and the adjustable feet mean that I can level it on uneven outdoor surfaces.
One not very useful table has been turned into two very useful tables. A triumph of recycling!