A cross section of a work in progress by Stan Langland shows blue resin filling holes in a board to create an artistic solution to the functional problem of large holes and cracks in a slab of wood.
Stan Langland adds wood oil to a slab, just one of the steps of highlighting the wood grain of a particular piece.
Stan Langland sits on one of his live edge benches near a slab of a piece that is still in the works. Besides tables of all shapes and sizes, Langland also creates benches and plant stands with the live edge look.
Langland's favorite and most personal piece, a memorial to his daughter, Elizabeth, who passed away in March at the age of 19.
There’s something about creating live edge tables that Stan Langland loves.
So much so, that he sees himself continuing to create them for the foreseeable future. The passion for the art form is part desire to make something useful and part respect for the inherent beauty of his medium.
“I just like to make something useful. Something people find enjoyable,” Langland said. “I love to make something that brings out the character of the slab. Something that’s attractive that people want to use.”
Langland, of Chehalis, has been woodworking for about 30 years. The hobby started with a family connection. He said he believes he got his love of working with his hands from his grandfather, who owned an ornamental iron shop.
“I always treasured the things I inherited from him,” Langland said. “I just like making things people can use.”
Langland’s first project was a dovetail chest that is still in his home. But he said he found the process too labor intensive so he never made another. Has made several wooden creations on his property, including a greenhouse (for which he also made some of the stained-glass windows) and a bench made from fence lumber and an antique Chevrolet pickup tailgate. But his favorite pieces are the live edge tables, tables made from a planed piece of wood that retains its natural contours rather than being squared off into a traditional board shape. He said he likes the style for its mixture of wood and steel and the variety of looks you can get from two seemingly simple materials.
About a year ago, Langland’s partner Sherry Ayars, who owns Petal’s Designs and Living Gifts in downtown Chehalis, started carrying a small selection of Langland’s tables for sale in the shop. But Langland, who works for the Lewis County government, said most of his creations are still for his own use and for gifts for friends and family.
“It’s still really a hobby. I don’t do it for the money,” Langland said.
Langland works most often with Redwood, Maple and Walnut but said he doesn’t have a particular type of wood he prefers, rather he looks for pieces that have personality. For instance, one table in his home is made from what is called Teredo wood, made from a fir log that was submerged in water and became infested with naval shipworms, giving its surface a unique pattern of holes and canals. Another favorite is a table made from a tapered piece of Osage orange wood that polishes an orange color, so it came out looking somewhat like a fillet of salmon.
But his favorite is a simple bench in a small grove at the outskirts of his property. It is a memorial to his daughter, Elizabeth, who died in March at the age of 19. Next to the bench is a small memorial plaque with a sculpture of a rabbit and the words “nothing loved is ever lost.”
“That’s my best piece,” he said quietly.
Langland sources his wood in a variety of places. He said a couple of his favorite places to buy wood are in Bellingham and Portland, Oregon. but he also gets wood locally from a number of sources, including the Reliable Enterprises workshop. Some pieces are also made from wood he found on his own property. Someday, Langland would like to try his hand at working with some Madrone wood as well as cypress. When he is choosing a slab, Langland explained he purchases the pieces as is, as long as they will fit into his pickup truck, and he is always looking for interesting colors and shapes in the wood grain and surface.
“To me, it’s more about finding the greatest quality wood,” he said.
Some of his most recent creations have incorporated colored resin into cracks and holes in the wood. The process is time consuming and he said the resin takes some trial and error to figure out. For instance, with a very deep hole, the resin may need to be added slowly and in layers. Otherwise, you could end up with a resin that never fully hardens. But when it’s done correctly, the finished product has almost a gem-like quality that adds to the beauty of the woodgrain. For Langland, there is even an extra beauty that resin adds to the piece.
“I like being able to take something that somebody else might consider not worthy and make it something useful,” Langland explained.
Surprisingly, Langland said he accomplishes his pieces without a big, fancy shop full of tools. He makes his pieces with hand tools and a few small hand tools such as a belt sander and an orbital sander. Lacking a wood planer, Langland said he once used his chainsaw to flatten one small log from his property and he enlisted the help of the Reliable Enterprises workshop for a larger log he wanted planed.
“I don’t think you need to make a huge investment in tools to do this type of work,” Langland said.
Langland also makes all of the bases for his tables. He learned how to weld when he was younger and worked for a fencing company. He said the skill came in handy on his 5-acre property, where he occasionally has to fix something. The skill has come in exceptionally handy in making the metal bases for the tables. He explained that he builds the bases to be freestanding from the tops. The design of the piece and its intended use are somewhat dictated by his materials.
“I just think about what would look good for that particular piece of wood,” Langland said.
