OUR STORY & PHILOSOPHY

MelloWood is about wood... what it has to tell us, how it can interest us, and also how we can use it. A tree records its history in its stem, which we harvest and process to make our products. Trees, grown in plantations tent to have monotonous lives, and their wood is not very interesting. Trees that grow in the forest face many challenges, which show up in their wood.
Most of what we make comes from trees grown on our land. Cedar, oak, pine and tulip poplar are the most abundant species, but we also harvest some cherry, maple, and walnut. We saw the logs on our own sawmill. The first cut on the mill reveals the character of the wood and based on what we see we decide how to proceed with the sawing.
Sometimes we cut slabs two or more inches thick with live edges, to be used for benches and mantles. Sometimes we cut planks to be used in tables, but often we cut to obtain wood with interesting growth patterns, or 'defects' like knots or insect burrows which we hope to make into smaller objects of use and interest in the home.
We imagine what the wood can be used for as we cut it, and we continue to imagine as we dry and then plane the wood to make it ready to work. Working the wood... sawing, sanding, shaping, and then finishing ...is a pleasure in itself, with the finished product as an extra reward. We try to create objects that are useful as well as interesting, but some are made just to show the beauty of the wood.