In 1998, my wife Lois and I bought 40 acres next to where I grew up and built a cabin. The area is part of the Driftless area of Iowa with wooded rolling hills and trout streams.

Our timber land included a very large, old bur oak tree that had a burl on the side 8 feet up that was the size and shape of a buffalo head. So, we called it the Buffalo Oak.

We marveled at the size, depth of bark, and unique burls. In early 2020, we noticed the tree no longer had any leaves, it was dead. At this time, I had already started woodworking and we had established charitable endowment funds with the money to be used for conservation and preservation of the North and South Bear Creek watersheds, the area around our cabin. Proceeds from our woodworking all go into the endowment funds or another charity honoring our daughter.

Rather than let the Buffalo Oak rot away, and since I had started working with wood, we decided to harvest it and use the wood to make tables, wall hangings, and other wood pieces. We wanted to honor this beautiful tree into the future via the beautiful grains of the wood. Upon harvesting the tree, we were able to count the rings to estimate its age. Getting an exact number is difficult but it was clearly over 300 years old (think about the late 1600's!).

In addition to the oak, I work with cherry, red elm, red cedar, ash, and walnut. All the trees come from our 40 acre property. We work with local loggers and saw mills to cut the logs, dry, and plane the boards. Many customers actually come to our cabin to pick out the wood they want made into projects. We discuss the use of live edge boards, consider including a river, and the type of finish.

Projects include many types of tables, benches, wall hangings, charcuterie and cutting boards.

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