Build Reclaimed Tables

Learn to build a reclaimed wood table with metal legs and hardware. Table options may include a desk or work table, dining, coffee, side, console, bench or other type of elevated surface – custom sized. Select woods and metal leg options.  The table surface is assembled with unique, simple and patented joinery supplied by Kit & Co.; which also allows for the tables to be broken down for transport or re-use at a later time. By the end of the 3.5 hour workshop, you’ll end up with a lasting, locally sourced, reclaimed furniture piece with a story attached because of the history of the lumber and because it was built by you. The average table will range between $200-$600 – from a smaller side or coffee table to larger desks and dining tables. The workshop will provide the knowledge and skills to assemble a range of DIY companion tables. We’ll cover reclaimed wood selection, preparation and assembly with hardware by Kit + Co.  

HOW IT WORKS

• Sawkill will supply locally sourced reclaimed wood options for the tabletop, and you customize and design the size, surface (rustic, semi-rustic or re-surfaced) and finish.
• Workshop attendees will move through the steps of wood selection, preparation and finishing their table in the workshop with the use of basic woodworking tools, under the supervision of an expert woodworker. Table can be custom sized – up to 30” x 60”. 
• KIT&Co. provides the high-quality, made in the US hardware, that comes with a lifetime satisfaction guarantee.

 

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• Table saw -demonstration
• Miter saw – Instruction + practice
• Power drill and Impact driver – Instruction + practice
• Palm sander – Instruction + practice
• Reclaimed wood backstory

 

WOOD SELECTION

Sawkill will supply locally sourced reclaimed wood options for the tabletop, including: 

• Douglas fir from an 1930’s era commercial building in Rego Park, Queens. With it’s great strength-to-weight ratio and warm tones, Doug fir and other Northwest softwoods – trees that grew to enormous size (sometimes higher than redwoods) – were used as structural woods within many mid-century warehouses across NYC. 

• Longleaf pine from an 1890’s warehouse in lower Manhattan – Dense, hard and available in huge dimensional sizes from old growth Southern forests following the Civil War, longleaf was a staple timber of the Industrial Revolution – framing everything from the base of the Brooklyn Bridge to warehouses and the stunning strip flooring of city row houses. 

• Southern softwoods – These boards are from a recent UWS construction project. But every board has a story to tell. And lumber from different eras have comparable environmental value. Made of dense high grade Southern pine, these woods are available in a ready-made dimensional size and have acquired a gently aged patina and character marks. 

 

MEET THE MAKER

• Bill Ryder is a fine woodworker and cabinet maker based in New York City. Bill has over thirty years of experience managing the construction and installation of wood applications – using modern woodworking equipment and traditional hand tools for the construction of a broad range of applications, from custom cabinetry and built-in shelving to solid wood furniture commissions. 

• Alan Solomon is a partner at Sawkill Lumber and a co-author of Reclaimed Wood: A Field Guide. His origins in salvage are recounted in a New Yorker Magazine story, Mystery on Pearl Street (2007). Sawkill was established in 2008, with a focus on recovering lumber and history from deconstructed buildings in the NYC area. Saw-kill, a Dutch term for “Sawmill Creek”, was the site of the first sawmill on Manhattan Island, built in 1633.   

 

About KIT&Co. + Sawkill Lumber

KIT&Co. designs and manufactures unique hardware We created our hardware and DIY KITs in response to limitations in quality, consistency, and sourcing we encountered off the shelf. Our products enable and inspire ingenuity and self-sufficiency for those who are always wanting better things. It has been featured as part of ICFF, Global Maker Faire NYC, and NYCXDesign Week. SawKill Lumber and KIT&Co. have partnered on a workshop series to create access to making timeless furniture with a story attached. Sawkill Lumber is a Brooklyn based supplier of reclaimed and sustainable woods from a broad range of sources – barns, warehouses, mills, old houses, wooden storage tanks, boardwalks, bowling alleys and many other sources. Website: https://www.kitn.co/ Instagram: @kitn.co