Betsy’s Table

[Coop]

Back in June of last year, Steve, a friend of mine and I drove to Tennessee to visit @RichardA (Rick) and @Spanky (Rickey) On our trip home, we were fortunate to have lunch with @wtnhighlander (Ross) and his son Cody. 
While visiting with Rick, he took Steve and I to his shop which by then was void of all major woodworking power tools. He had decided that Father Time had taken it’s toll on the steadiness of his legs, back and hands and had sold all of the tools that would hurt him the most but he still had a nice array of hand tools which Steve and I acquired from him.

I noticed on Rick’s workbench was a partially finished cherry table that just needed some tweaking and glue. He told us that it was to go to a good friend of his named Betsy and he was unable to finish it before he sold the tools. I offered to bring it back to Houston and once finished, get it back to him somehow. The only glued up section was a nice live edge top and the other pieces were dry fitted. I took several pics of the dry fitted table and also labeled the individual pieces with blue tape at their junctures. We disassembled the table, wrapped the parts in a shipping blanket and loaded it up for the trip back home. We jokingly said that the project was so tough that it took two of us to finish it. 

For the first 2 or 3 months after I returned, I would trim a piece here and there and add a little Titebond between my other projects until it looked like he had intended for it to look and gave the whole thing several coats of ARS semi-gloss. 
I don’t know if the table was taking too much room in my shop, if I needed to get out of town for a while or just wanted to go see Tennessee again but my wife and I decided to load it into her Traverse and head back to the Nashville area.  After spending a couple of days with Rick and Rickey, we made our way down to visit my wife’s relatives in Louisiana. 
Rick had notified Betsy of our pending arrival and she met us at Rick’s house to pick up the table. She seemed quite pleased with the results and we all had a good time making it happen.

 

[Chet]

That is a really nice looking, multi person project.  It has a really different design.  Is the table meant to be used for something in particular?

Great job both of you.

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

Great table, and an even better story. That you for sharing!

[Tom King]

That's one of the best woodworking stories I've ever known of!!

[treeslayer]

Way to step up @Coop and a great job on finishing up the project for our great friend Rick, looks fantastic 

[wtnhighlander]

That's a great looking table! Kudos to all three of you for making Ms. Betsy smile!

[Coop]

Thanks guys. I think Betsy said it was going in the kitchen at her cabin.

[gee-dub]

This is the greatest story.  I jumped up to go tell my wife about it and forgot to respond.  Well Done!

[RichardA]

On 5/8/2025 at 4:04 PM, Chet said:

That is a really nice looking, multi person project.  It has a really different design.  Is the table meant to be used for something in particular?

Great job both of you.

We know it's to fill a space in her Grandmothers home. We are unaware where the space is located. Kitchen, Bedroom???  The only request was a live edge.

[RichardA]

On 5/8/2025 at 5:37 PM, treeslayer said:

Way to step up @Coop and a great job on finishing up the project for our great friend Rick, looks fantastic 

Dave, I had to give it up, my hands were shaking way to much, to be around moving metal blades.  I've already donated a knuckle to this  hobby, I thought I'd try and go out with the same ten I came in with.   

[Mark J]

Beautiful table!  And a really heartwarming story.  Kudos to you both.