Our Story

Barringer Crater (Meteor Crater), Arizona

It’s a story about a journey to find our meaning in woodworking. With a close relationship to the source of the wood, from felling to milling and drying ourselves, we experience the process as a whole from tree to home.

The concept of atg.studio started as an experiment of curiosity. What would it take to get a tree from its standing state to a piece of furniture? Well, I can say one thing - it’s a process of time, patience, and a lot of learning.

The dangers of felling a tree cannot be understated. I would not recommend it. Handling tons of wood around is also no easy task but can be done with some thinking, minimal tools, and some muscle grease. Once on the ground, the tree is cut into logs so they can be handled. These logs are then made into slabs. Slabs can be made either on location with an Alaskan mill or portable bandsaw mill, or taken to a larger stationary mill for larger diameter logs.

Stacking and drying are next. The slabs must be properly stacked with an air gap between slabs to allow air flow and more even drying. The rule-of-thumb for air drying is one year per inch of thickness plus one year. A 3” thick slab would take approximately 3-4 years to dry to an appropriate working moisture level. This of course varies and the slabs should be checked periodically to determine the internal moisture level.

Once the slabs are dry and ready to be worked, the real fun starts. The slab is processed into smaller and smaller pieces until every piece is square and true. Next is dry assembly to ensure I fixed all the mistakes I made, followed by the glue-up and finally the finish.

From start to finish, taking a tree from its habitat and putting a piece of it in your living room is a lengthy multi-year process that really gives meaning to custom furniture.

note: no live trees were harmed