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Honoring the legacy of a family farm through handcrafted heirloom furniture. In early 2018, John and his father, Don, stopped by my studio at the Littlebranch Farm Gallery. In a spring storm, a large white oak had toppled under the storm. They were searching for a furniture maker to craft legacy handcrafted heirloom furniture as two conference tables from the tree.

Don, a fifth-generation farmer passionate about the land and family business, passed away in 2019. Before passing away, Don assigned the task of constructing the furniture to his sons, Sam and John. They both possess his energy and passion for the land and family.

Natural wood Heirloom furniture

In late 2022, Sam and John Halcomb met with Kelly Maxwell to discuss a project. Back in 2018, Kelly suggested having the tree milled into three-inch-thick wood slabs. These slabs were subsequently stacked and left to dry naturally. After following Kelly’s advice, they expressed their interest in building a legacy of handcrafted heirloom natural wood furniture. Recently, Kelly had the opportunity to visit Walnut Grove Farms in Adairville, Kentucky. He personally viewed their collection of air-dried live-edge wood slabs during the visit.

Designing and handcrafting natural wood furniture for clients is an absolute privilege, regardless of the project’s scope. As a self-taught furniture maker, Kelly takes pride in his craft and prioritizes using high-quality, air-dried wood. Crafting natural wood furniture is a time-consuming process akin to the art of producing top-notch whiskey.

Kelly has found that using air-dried wood in his projects produces the best results, even though he has previously used kiln-dried wood slabs. However, he has realized that this method requires much time and patience. It can take up to three to five years for most wood species, milled at three inches thick, to dry and stabilize naturally. Additionally, not all wood species are suitable for making legacy handcrafted heirloom furniture slabs, and some may have unique challenges. Crafting natural wood furniture is like making a cherished family whiskey – it’s a process that demands patience and attention to detail.

Handcrafted heirloom furniture

The Halcombs wood slabs are a beautiful species of white oak. Kelly decided to book-match two slabs together, which perfectly fit the tabletop. He also built a custom table base with a shelf for eye appeal and functionality. Discovering the owl’s eyes in the woods was a pleasant surprise. They complement each other perfectly on both the bottom shelf and the tabletop. He added a natural premium hardwax finish to their legacy handcrafted heirloom furniture to protect the wood and keep it looking beautiful.

There are plenty of places to look for creative and unique real wood furniture on the web today. However, nothing allows you to create something incredible like crafting your unique natural wood furniture.

Essential woodworking tools, such as a drill, saw, and sander, come in all shapes and sizes. While choosing the perfect one can be daunting, we’ve compiled a quick guide to some of the most valuable tools. Whether your interest is traditional or rustic real wood furniture, making this list is a great guild.

Basics of real wood furniture

Whether a DIY or professional woodworker, a sander is a must-have. Options such as belts, random orbital, and hand sanding blocks are all must-haves. At the same time, hand tools such as chisels and squares are essential and significant for woodworking’s fine details. Most importantly, no modern natural wood furniture shop is complete without a joiner, table saw, and thickness planer. One of the standard tool needs but the slightest thought of as a tool is a clamp. Clamps are used in most woodworking projects, thus one of the most important. While these are all great suggestions, the project and woodworking style will dictate the tools needed. Remember, this suggests that the essential toolkit required in a wood shop is just that basic. We have touched on dust control, jigs, and many other tools in woodworking and furniture-making.

Woodworking trade tools

Aside from the items above, you should build your woodworking tool kit based on your woodworking style. The tool is the same whether contemporary, modern or rustic furniture. For instance, a circular saw can help dimension for longer rip cuts. A good table saw is a great option, but a track saw system easily replaces the need for an expensive table saw.
Another option to have handy is a handsaw along with a router. Or use a router along with a straight edge and clamps to cut a straight line. At the same time, not the best way to cut a board, but it is an option. The best use for a router is cutting shapes and cleaning up a wood edge.

If you want to create curved items, then you’re going to need a jigsaw — as well. Some woodwork enthusiasts like to top up their saw collection with a coping saw for complex components. However, you can also get details into your work if you’re willing to have time and patience with a mallet and a few chisels. Hammers, screwdrivers, and other essential tools can be great when expanding your skills.

Other Wood Furniture Extras

For additional “extras” to add to your live edge furniture-making toolkit, you can also think about power drills that you can use to combine pieces of your items. You might need some joinery gadgets, too, if you want to get into that aspect of woodworking. However, it’s worth noting that it does take a lot of time to get used to joinery. If you’ve already developed skills in hand-cutting your joints, then joinery gadgets might make things slower.
Other great tools to invest in might include a small workbench where you can focus on creating your pieces without putting your floor or dining table in danger and a good supply of clamps.

What’s the difference with the growing popularity of reclaimed and salvaged wood? With both being

Lets take a dive into

Here at Littlebranch Farm, we handcraft functional custom furniture from ethically sourced reclaimed and salvaged wood. Functional furniture that celebrates the innate beauty and heritage of the natural wood it’s crafted from.

Responsibly sourcing wood slabs

What does responsible sourcing mean? The ICC defines responsible sourcing as “a voluntary commitment by companies to consider social and environmental considerations when managing supplier relationships.

We believe responsible sourcing cares about our community and the consequences of our actions inside that community. Thus, our commitment to ethical sourcing refers to a voluntary commitment by companies to consider social and environmental factors when managing their supplier relationships.

 Sourcing reclaimed wood

While obviously not sustainable, many companies in the United States source their materials in this fashion. What is reclaimed wood? A simple search on any internet browser will say it’s wood salvaged from barns and other structures and reused for a purpose. At Littlebranch, we do not commonly seek out this material but have been known to acquire select pieces to add to our complex catalog of unique wood.

Reclaimed wood furniture

Littlebranch Farm is not known for its functional reclaimed furniture designs. We transform spaces with innovative creations that celebrate natural wood’s history and innate beauty. Our functional rustic furniture is handcrafted from natural reclaimed wood and live edge wood slabs native to the USA.

Located in Nashville, TN

oves working with reclaimed and salvaged wood and being the leading source of rustic furniture in Nashville, TN. Why do we work with live edge wood in our custom reclaimed wood furniture? In addition to the value of community responsibility and environmental consciousness. Salvaged and reclaimed wood is the best material to work with and the best material for achieving our aesthetic goals. The unique qualities of this material are unlike anything else. Each finished piece of rustic furniture is designed and handcrafted to celebrate the amazingly unique qualities different in every tree slab, log, root, or stump. We recycle wood from the forest floor and transform it into dining tables, rustic fireplace mantels, rustic vanities, and natural wood countertops for your home.

Salvaged wood

Forest data in the United States shows that “About 30 percent of the 2.3 billion acres of land area (745 million acres) in the U.S. is forest today as compared to about one-half in 1630 (1.0 billion acres). 300 million acres of forest land have been converted to other uses since 1630. Predominantly because of agricultural uses in the East. The forest resources of the U.S. have continued to improve in general condition and quality. Measured by increased average size and volume of trees. This trend has been evident since the 1960s and before. The total forestland acreage has remained stable since 1900.”