This unique and distinctive solid timber dining table is made from two of the most Iconic Tasmanian timbers. Both these trees types grow only in the wettest and darkest forests. They grow as an understorey tree beneath the huge spreading branches of the magnificent Myrtles. They require deep rich soils and lots and lots of water.
They grow side by side amongst the Man Ferns and are mostly found on the wet West coast of Tasmania.
We made this Blackheart Sassafras dining table using a unique Tasmanian timber combination to show them off together, as they grow together side by side. We also made the 10 matching chairs from the same combination to enhance and match the tables beauty.
Blackheart Sassafras occurs only in Tasmanian forests and the Black heart is created from water running down the inside of the trees after they are damaged in wild windy and wet storms, as their branches at the top of the tree are quite brittle and break off under stormy conditions. This also means that only the very damaged trees are then removed from the forest as they will die from these injuries so they are a real “salvaged or resurrected” resource. It also means that the Blackheart timber is very rare and not readily available.
Celery Top gets its name from the leaves which look like a bunch of Celery tops ! rather unique when you think about it. The Celery top timber was used by the early English colonisers to Tasmania for boat building and boat decks because it is so water resistant and incredibly hard wearing. It has a unique characteristic in the world of timber as it is the only timber that shrinks along its length when it dries rather than shrinking across its length. This meant when used as a boat building board it would shrink and curve a little once fixed to the boat frame adding to strength of the boat a rare thing indeed ! It is one of the “whitest” timbers in Tasmania and we think works beautifully and softly together with the Blackheart Sassafras.
As this table centre is made from an original Blackheart Sassafras slab it contained plenty of gaps and faults that required filling so a unique feature of this table top is the use of Brass Powder in Resin to fill the gaps and holes in the Blackheart Sassafras.
Table Measures: 2700 mm long x 990 mm wide x 740 mm tall
