By
Pam Johnson, Courier Senior Staff Writer:
The gleaming slab of gorgeous wood dominating the Guilford Free Public Library
lobby looks too beautiful to touch. But its creator John Russell says he hopes
folks will run a finger over its satin-smooth finish and even feel free to have
a seat on the special bench he’s donated to the town.
Hewn
from a single, 600-pound piece of wood, the seven-foot long bench is built to
stand the test of time and years of use from library guests young and old. What
both Library Director Sandy Ruoff and John hope will last just as long is the
tale of the origins of this unique furnishing, which arrived only recently at
the renovated and expanded Park Street building.
“This
wood comes from a 250 year-old European copper beech tree that used to stand in
front of the library” on Park Street, explains John, a native of Ireland.
“Unfortunately, it had a red fungus disease and had to be cut down.”
A
Guilford resident since 1992, John arrived here from New Haven where he’d
established a reputation as a designer, builder and restorer of historic houses
specializing in designing and building fine furniture and cabinetry.
One
day a few years ago, John’s wife, Anna Russell, an architect, learned that Guilford’s tree warden
had deemed two ancient copper beech trees at the library too dangerous to
remain standing (the second tree was on the parking lot side of the building).
Knowing her husband’s decided interest in reclaiming unique and rare wood, she
urged him to call the library.
“My
wife really was the instigator of the idea. So, I called Sandy and said it was a shame to waste that
wood. I said I’d be happy to take it and that I’d be glad to donate something
back,” John recalls.
Among
John’s many specialties at his business, Russell Woodworking, is designing and
building library furnishings. John works from a custom-designed woodshop he
installed on his Guilford land in 2001.
With
Ruoff’s blessing, the felled copper beech wood found its way to John’s workshop
and its on-site saw mill. The rare wood arrived in whole sections, some more
than 10 feet long, many belying the tree’s five-foot wide girth. Among the
pieces, John quickly spied the section he knew was destined to return to the
library.
“It
was like a diamond in the rough,” he says.
The
section was allowed to air dry for three years, under proper cover and close
supervision. Originally nine feet long (since re-sized to seven), the dried
wood then began to come to life as a bench. First, John carefully planed the
wood slab to best show its “flitch” or live age. The tree’s own shape created
the table’s edges, complete with bark. Six coats of rich varnish, and plenty of
painstaking sanding in-between, eventually yielded the final product. John
estimates the library bench to be valued at $25,000 to $30,000.
It
was a proud day for John when the lovingly restored remnant of the library’s
once-venerable European copper beech returned to its home ground, this time to
remain safely within the library walls.
“I
grew up in Ireland by the water, and I love being by the sea. That’s why I came
to Guilford. I love living in this town and I’m glad to be able to give
something back to it,” John says.
Originally
designed for the library’s second floor, John says he’s honored the library
administration’s seen fit to instead make the copper beech bench the
centerpiece of the main entrance.
“There
is a significance to it and a connection. People like reclaiming what once was,
like this tree. I know I get into it,” he says.
Seeing
the significance in re-imagining reclaimed wood as fine furniture has become a
passion for John, who won a prestigious New Haven Country Preservation Award in
1990 and more recently designed and built a custom bed as part of TV’s This Old
House Carlisle Project.
Together
with a partner, the Bill Donat Hollfelder Company, John’s currently reclaiming
a massive amount of American chestnut and other rare native woods from the
historic Ponemah Mill in Norwalk. The wood will be sold worldwide.
“They’re
converting to condos an old linen mill built in the 1870s. It was built with
old growth chestnut, pine, and maple,” says John.
Aside
from reclaiming rare woods and working with many modern woods, John’s also
employing “green tech” techniques and sustainable woods such as bamboo (which
he points out is actually a grass) when building many of his creations.
As
for the copper beech library bench, the self-taught designer and builder says
he hopes it will serve Guilford for many years to come.
“I
saw that piece and thought making it into a bench for the library would be a
good idea. People can use it, kids can jump on it…and it’s a little bit of
nostalgia.”
For more information about projects created by Russell Woodworking,
visit www.johnrussell.com.
Pictured: Designer and builder John Russell has created this
marvelous, seven-foot long wooden bench from a single piece of a 250 year-old
European Copper Beech which used to grace the library grounds. Russell donated
the finished bench to the library as a gift to the town.
Photo
by Pam Johnson