Alan Anderson Design

Hay Rake Conference Table
Redesign Arts and Crafts table in the spirit of Sidney Barnsley

Conference Table

32" x 30" x 92"

White Oak

Conference Table

In 2007 I had the great opportunity to build the 6 conference tables for the new Aldo Leopold Legacy Center in Baraboo, Wisconsin. For a brief time, the building held the distinction of receiving more LED certification points than any other building in history. In other words, it was the greenest building in the world. The wood for the tables was cut from Nina Leopold Bradley's land just a few miles from the Leopold Shack. I decided that the tables needed to be of substance as they would sit in a room dedicated to a man who wrote eloquent and powerful ideas about an ethical way to live in harmony with the land. The tables were inspired by Sidney Barnsley's work from England 100 years ago. Barnsley made similar but more massive tables for a school library in the Cotsworth area of England. The hay rake joint is tricky and must be assembled by sliding the 4 separate members together simultaneously because of the 45 degree mortises.

The wood I used was ancient with 125 growth rings to 6 inches of wood.