Tornadic Two-seater

Here’s my entry in the garden bench contest.

I’ve been looking for a project for these logs for a while. It is a combination of Blackjack (red) and Post Oak (white) branches from some trees uprooted by an f4 tornado that came through a few years ago.

I chose to peel the bark with a drawknife to add subtle texture and to unify the woods. In a subtle homage to their tornadic genesis, the pieces of the bench appear to swirl around each other as your vantage point changes. Intentionally buckling the bench in multiple directions and allowing it to appear windwept in others, dramatically increased the difficulty of construction. In a less subtle overture, the classic inverted cone shape of a tornado appears in the backrest.

The entire bench is built with round mortise and tenons and secured with epoxy. The seat is a single 16” wide slab of Burr Oak, and though it doesn’t show well in the pictures, I left a live-edge along the front. I chose not to apply finish to this piece, opting instead, to allow it to gradually gray in the elements….afterall, it’s already been through one tornado!