What a thing of beauty! A 4-foot by 11-foot white oak harvest table. This one will seat about 14 people comfortably at your next holiday party. (This table is heavy enough, those 14 people could probably dance on it too).

For the tabletop, we started out with 12x12x23 foot hand hewn white oak beams from an old 1800s vintage granary in Glencoe, Minnesota. Yes, 12x12x23. These beams were less than perfect — rounded edges, some heavily rotten faces, tapering, and other challenges. We skinned the beams to get 2.5″ thick boards with the best patina. Then, we then slowly planned each board about a half-a-dozen times to get just the right look — functionally smooth, but with shadows of old hand hewn marks, cracks, and bug trails. You’ll notice the “live” edges with the rounding and knots that were once just under the bark of the tree.

The base is made from rafter beams from an old log barn in Ellsworth, Wisconsin. They turned out to be just the right size to balance out the massive table top. Original hand hewn marks were sanded down a great deal, but left in tact for the added character.