Squalicum Beach Table, SOLD!

This is one of my favorite BAPOWS ever. In fact I may have dreamed up my acronym for 'Bad Ass Piece of Wood' as I trudged this 200 pound, round edged and awkward chunk of wood down the beach to my little truck. With all the odd and heavy objects I've salvaged from so many places, I don't remember which of my friends was there to help me with this particular challenge, but I'm sure they remember.

Squalicum Beach Table at the Fire House in Langley with 2 Callapaters (Callahan Platter) and a Bowlahan (Bowl Callahan)

It came off a beach in Bellingham, undoubtedly a scrap from the decommissioned Georgia Pacific mill down at the wharf. It's a toxic site that the City of Bellingham was given, but they've also inherited the mess.

From a nice Seattle Times article about the history, function and closing of the GP Mill.

I fear the burden of cost will go to the taxpayers while the benefits of development rights will go to private developers who already have enough money and the potentially wonderful site will become private residences with little value to the public. I hope I'm proven wrong!

The simple, crisp and timeless design of the Squalicum Beach Table by dbBrad.

But back to the BAPOW, which once dropped from the little wonder truck I used to own, sat in my yard for over 5 years. It was a bench for a while, then a step, then a post, and now a table. Each time I moved it I contemplated the table I knew it was to be, but it took me a long time to resolve the design.

Detail showing the Pipe connection to the PAPOW on the Squalicum Beach Table

I knew from the get go that the half holes in the ends should be used as part of the connection, but never really knew how to make the connection. Where to screw, where to bolt, how to minimize welding and fabrication and above all how to create a connection that was true to the found object as well as the table's legs-to-be.

Close up of the corner of the Squalicum Beach Table elegantly displaying it simplicity

I didn't even know for years what the legs were to me made of, but because I always had a chunk of pipe around, I would perpetually fit one in the ends of the wood and wonder about how to hold the two pipes tight enough to support the weight of the table.

The base of thje Squalicum table, Beautiful even by itself, has no fasteners. The top gets set in on one end, then I jumped on the other, distorting the shape of the bottom tube enough to allow the two piece of channel to move about 1" apart so the other end could index into the half hole which came as part of the BAPOW top.

At some point moving from Bellingham, the BAPOW crossed paths with a large chunk of metal I had salvaged from Skagit River Steel and Recycling for the FrEdLey Project but didn't get used. It happened to be just long enough for two legs. In fact the table is the height that it is because I only wanted to cut the channel once, respecting the materials while creating no waste and honoring simplicity.

dbBrad furniture on display during the Whidbey Island Artist Tour.

Then the Artist tour came along. I was Still working on the Lois Remodel and Lois, an amazing photographer, was gracious enough to let me show some furniture in her driveway. This was one of the 5 pieces I managed to finish up for the tour.

Moch up of a 4'x8' table with glass over the woven wire mesh. The legs, still being itterated in my head, but probably something along the lines of an elegant pillar of concrete post war, with nothing but steel rising from a beautiful base.

And then Callahan and I decided to mix our wares, and they moved into Callahan's Fire House in Langley. And now, the Squalicum Beach Table has sold for $2300 and was shipped last Friday to Chicago, where it will reside in an entry of a house I hope to one day see. I sure no matter where it is, the table will be happy with a life much more promising than that of a beach or a scrap yard. I know the new owners will enjoy this piece for decades to come.

My favorite view of the Squalicum Beach Table, showing the simple design with no connections of any type. It could be called a cantilevered trestle table perhaps or a half round friction based cantilever supported Bapow, but never in my life have a seen a table that had no screws, bolts or any type of connection between the legs and the Top. A dbBrad original.