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From the Fall 2010 Pottery Barn Catalog
In 2004, a year before I joined the Popular Woodworking Magazine staff, I was co-author, with John McGuane, of “The Essential Pine Book,” which “Includes 12 Furniture Projects Utilizing This Versatile Wood.” But this is not a sales pitch – the book has been out of print for a while (though I’ve seen a copy or two at Half-Price Books, for less than half price, which is a wee bit depressing). Or perhaps this is an unwitting sales pitch after all – for Pottery Barn.
When I got home from work yesterday, I pulled the new Pottery Barn catalog from my mailbox, opened it, and on page 4 saw a familiar item. Darn if their “Toscana Trestle Table” isn’t a near-twin of the one project I built for that book (I was mostly the hunter, gatherer and editor for the front section on various types of pine – and this was the first “real” woodworking project I built).
My table.
Let’s compare. According to PB’s description, the Toscana table has:
• X-shaped supports. Check.
• Keyed through-tenons. Check.
• Crafted from pine solids and pine veneers. Pine veneers? Really? Uncheck. I used solid sugar pine.
• Planked top and eased edges. Check.
• Two 18″ breadboard leaves. Check – sort of. Mine doesn’t have leaves, but it does have breadboard ends.
• Comfortably accommodates up to 10. Check (actually, 12, if you have narrow chairs and don’t mind minimal personal space).
• “Finish is a 14-step process with hand-applied layers, hand distressing and burnished edges.” Um, no. I did not apply 14 layers of finish. But my finish is applied by hand. And after six years of Thanksgiving dinners and other uses it is certainly hand-distressed (and elbow-distressed and wine-spill-distressed).
• $1,299. Uncheck. If I recall correctly, the sugar pine cost somewhere around $600, and I also bought a handful of dowels, a can of gel stain and some wiping poly (and there’s not a lick of hardware in it). So I’m guessing it cost less that $650 all told. Sure, the price of pine has likely increased since, but I’m guessing the total expenditure would still be far less than $1,300.
• Propped with chairs, table settings and over-the-top decorations. OK – they win that one.
I guess this isn’t a sales pitch after all. In fact, it’s an anti-sales pitch. You can download, free, the plans and instructions below. This is the only time in my entire life I’ve been ahead of the curve on what’s fashionable – in any milieu.
— Megan Fitzpatrick
C. Schwarz: Here is Megan’s author photo from 2004. Sassy!
• If you’re looking for nice projects for which pine is a suitable wood choice, check out “Country Pine Furniture Projects,” by Bill Hylton (it’s among the 750+ new books, CDs and DVDs we’ve recently added to WoodworkersBookShop.com).
