Eco-Friendly Wood Lives on as Beautiful Art!

Using Eco-friendly wood is part of our mission! Most of the lumber I use in my projects has an interesting story. With surprising regularity, I get hold of local trees that have either come down in storms or needed to be taken down for various reasons. Here are some of their stories.

Wood From a Tornado

On May 16th, 2009, a tornado swept through a primarily wooded area where I live in Clinton, N.Y. Many trees were taken down by the storm, including a great cherry tree that was uprooted just a mile from my house. I made a five-by-eight-foot pocket door for my friend Angelo, the homeowner whose yard the tree came from. The remainder of the lumber has gone into several exciting projects.

Eco-Friendly Wood From a Dying Trees

When the nearby town of Westmoreland took down a dying red elm on Main Street, they offered it to friends who live a short distance away. Tony and Michele burn wood to heat their house but were impressed by the dark color at the end of this log. They generously called and offered it to me. This wood has been incorporated into many of my pieces.

The public library in Clinton took down a dead cherry on their property. My sister Theresa now has a pretty bench, a constant reminder of her happy childhood days spent at the library. More pieces are underway and will become donations to the library, which is a precious community asset.

Eco-Friendly Wood Lives on as Beautiful Art! — Cherry From the Library Made Into a Bench/Table

The towering cherry that fell just inches from my friend Jim’s garage motivated him to cull a few similar trees just feet from his house. One of those was a gnarly, century-old maple that was well past its prime and dropping sizable limbs on the driveway. That maple lives on as a ten-foot table in the home of my niece Sam and her family.

The Clinton Liberal Institute was a preparatory school in Clinton built in the 1830s. Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross, enrolled there in 1850. A black walnut tree graced the grounds of this property for certainly a hundred years. The Institute is now a magnificent private home. When this walnut died, the homeowner kindly offered it to me.

High Winds Take Down Trees

Shortly before heading out to dinner with my wife Sarah on one of our wedding anniversaries, I stood at the front door watching a serious-looking storm front heading across the open field toward our house. As the winds and rain reached our property, I witnessed a large portion of an old maple tree crashing onto the lawn. I have incorporated that maple into many Anniversary banks.

Hurricane Ian Damaged Trees

On September 22, 2022, Hurricane Ian walloped south Florida. A day later, I jumped into the truck with my friend Bruce and headed down to do cleanup and repairs on my place in Naples and to help neighbors with the same. Some of the beautiful Banyan trees that graced our community died due to the hurricane. I was able to get a couple of six-foot sections of them and bring them back north on my return. I have cut them into lumber, and they are now drying. When they are ready to use, the challenge will be to make art that shows the banyans' beauty while conveying Ian's brutality.

Future Eco-Friendly Wood From a Tree Hit by Lightning

There are several more trees with similar stories, which I have used over the years. One story still to be played out relates to a walnut tree I planted in 1980. It was two feet tall and thick as a pencil then. The tree towers now and is thirty inches in diameter. This past summer, a lightning strike shot down along the tree and into the ground. Bark, the length of the trunk, was torn open, exposing the sapwood. This walnut tree will continue to grow but will have an ever-increasing scar, allowing insects and rot to attack it. I will be taking it down and using it in my shop. And so the cycle goes.

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Beautiful art for life well lived,

Moe