Planked Crossties

These surprised us. We were stunned at the beauty of what came out of these crossties.

The gum (top pic) has a flame like appearance. The hickory (two middle pics) has its well-known dark and light striations and an interesting bit of bark seam. The hackberry (bottom pic) has thin dark thin lines coursing through it.

Once we get these down to a finished product, the colors and graining are going to be something truly amazing to behold.

Hmmmm. Now what shall we make from these? Let me know if you have a suggestion.

Rail Gang Table

Rail gangs and tie gangs are the large groups of railroaders working on big projects. Whether you use it for a dining table or a conference table, that’s just what this table is for - bringing a few folks together.

We’ve got a single hickory timber cut in half and then offset just a bit to give it some interest and sneak a little extra length out of the cross ties. Four legs made from Tennessee Coal & Iron Company rail complete the look and have you ready to eat or to meet.

We were pretty taken with our work on this one. Guess we weren’t alone in admiring it since it’s already found a home as a railroad executive’s conference table.

Photo credit: Matt Collins of Collins Imagery