The workshop · Doesburg, Gelderland
Made slowly, on purpose.
Nine joiners, one long workshop by the IJssel, and a simple rule: we only make what has been ordered. Here is everything that happens between the forest and your floor.
01
Before your order
The forest
We buy whole oak logs from PEFC-certified forests in eastern France and Germany, chosen standing with the forester. Each log is sawn through-and-through and the boards are stacked in order, so a tabletop can come from a single tree.
02
Before your order · 1–3 years
Drying
Boards air-dry under cover for roughly a year per inch of thickness, then spend three weeks in a low-temperature kiln. Rushing this is how furniture cracks; waiting is how it stays flat for decades.
03
Week 1
Grading & cutting
Once your order arrives, a joiner reads every board by hand: grain, knots, colour. The quietest straight grain goes to tops and legs; figured wood goes where it shows best. Only then is anything cut.
04
Weeks 2–3
Joinery
Legs, rails and frames are joined with mortise and tenon, glued and pinned with oak dowels. No metal brackets, no knock-down fittings. Tops are fixed with buttons that let the wood move with the seasons.
05
Week 4
Hand profiling
With the joints fitted, hands take over. Joints are planed flush, edges are eased with a block plane and card scraper until they feel right under the palm, and every surface is sanded through four grits.
06
Week 5
Oil & finish
Smoked pieces first rest in an ammonia chamber, which darkens the oak right through rather than staining the surface. Then three coats of natural hardwax oil are rubbed in, cut back between each, and left to cure.
07
Week 6
Signed & stamped
The joiner who made your piece inspects it in raking light, signs the build card and stamps a number underneath. That number links to its timber, its maker and its date, for as long as it exists.
08
Weeks 7–8
Delivered & cared for
Two of our own team deliver it, carry it into the room and level it on your floor. You get a care kit with oil and cloth, and if it ever needs re-oiling, repair or a full refinish, it comes back to the bench it was made on.
Our promise
- 6–8 weeks
- From order to delivery. We'll send photos from the bench.
- Free delivery
- Carried into the room of your choice across the Benelux.
- 10 years
- Structural guarantee on every joint and frame.
- For life
- Re-oiling, repairs and refinishing at the workshop.