I was given a large beam end from a reclaimed Dade County Pine beam to work with. The wood is very heavy, dense and hard, but has a beautiful aesthetic. The concept for the stool was to design as simple a form as possible to basically “show off” the wood. The stool is deceptively simple but the “cuts” (6 total) were difficult to make given the depth of the cuts and weight of the piece. Four cuts were made to taper the outside faces and two cuts to create the legs which act as a pedestal for the wood. Old nail holes can be seen in the vertical planes of the stool.

Dade County Pine is a subspecies of Heart Pine. At one time, Dade County Pine grew between the Everglades and the Atlantic Ocean in South Florida. Dade County Pine closely resembles Heart Pine in appearance and equals it in strength and durability. The chief difference between the two is that Dade County Pine tends to be even denser. Like its northern relative, original growth Dade County Pine has been almost completely harvested.