A concept that you should not explain to any West Flemish person is “kloek” (sturdy). Sturdy, tough, indestructible, robust, and so on. A sturdy decision, sturdy and healthy, a sturdy guy …
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What was certainly sturdy were my late father-in-law’s Flintstone * chairs and table. Pure beech, the table top was a generous 10 cm thick, accounting for about 200 kg of gravity. The seats were idem ditto, each about 50 kilos. They braved wind and weather without flinching, not a storm that could move them. Once made by a local farmer / carpenter from rural Passendale as furniture for a garden shed.
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But that was a bit too much. None of the descendants were overly enthusiastic about taking home those museum pieces along for another 100 years, so we looked for and found another destination. Six seats and 24 legs, that’s good for 6 hand-turned fruit bowls and 24 pepper mills! My great-grandmother Amata would say ‘a fortune is being gathered here’.
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In any case, I didn’t have to worry if the wood was dry enough. 36 years in Provence, that should be enough.
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* For the Flintstones, click here

Kahlil Gibran once wrote” And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”.

I don’t know if he was as good a gardner as a poet, but in our case, he was right. In our garden, we had a red oak and a mediterranean stone pine (or umbrella pine) planted ages ago far too close to each other, and in the end the oak lost.

We first spotted fungi blossom at it’s roots, and one summer, the ground was covered with acorns and seedlings, a desperate attempt at survival. Next spring, the leafs sprouted, but that was the final sign of life. In barely a month time, all the leafs had shrivelled, and we were left with memories only. Enter JeanDo our gardner, who expertly and carefully felled the giant in no time.

After that, the challenge was what to do with the trunk. A piece that is two meter long, and 50 cm of diameter represents easily 500 kilos, so better treat it with respect. Our neighbour Jean-Pierre luckily had a tractor on hand, so he could load the beast onto my trailer, heading for Christophe Truche’s sawmill in the village next door.

Two months later, I could pick up the pieces, beautiful wide planks, which made me a lot of friends at the AOB community workshop in Gaillac with whom I shared my beauties

The top slabs were interesting, so I thought to make something out of it. It ended up as a large turned bowl with an intriguing pattern of vertical rays and growth rings. Have a look for yourself, and try to figure out how it fitted into the trunk before.