While I don’t wear shorts, black socks and sandals, there is something that’s making me feel a bit over-the-hill. There is a newish trend in woodworking where splintery, gray, cracked and weathered, and generally abused (some might call it rotten) lumber has become something to be desired. I see tables made from it, walls covered with mismatched chunks of the stuff, and even “fine furniture” like dressers or credenzas crafted from the landfill fodder. All I can say is that some folk’s saw blades are missing a few teeth.
I am not saying that distressed wood can’t look good as an accent. Or that, in a rustic room with cow horns on the walls and brass Frederic Remingtons on a desk, that it might not be just the thing. But fine furniture? Costing thousands of dollars? Like I said, I am feeling like I am not “with it.”
So pass me my AARP card and get out of the way of my Hoveround®.
Rob Johnstone, Woodworker’s Journal
