From tree to table
Urban wood recovery makes for 'homegrown' decorating
Imagine the sorrow of losing a prized tree only to have it live again as hand-crafted furniture or a striking fireplace mantle inside your home. ❚ Talk about the ultimate in green decorating. ❚ That’s just what happened with Susan Kizaric, who recently built a new home in Greenfield. ❚ “I just don’t like the idea of trees turned into pulp,” she said. “Why not make it into something beautiful?” ❚ Unfortunately for Kizaric, a mature cherry and mammoth white oak tree were growing smack dab where her house was to go. They, along with three ash trees infected with the emerald ash borer, had to be removed. There was no getting around it. ❚ Determined to give the unpleasant situation a happy ending, Kizaric decided to turn the downed trees into stunning statement pieces for the inside of her new home.
After an online search for ideas, Kizaric visited the Urban Wood Lab that opened earlier this year at 1813 S. 73rd St. in West Allis. She liked what she saw.
The store specializes in producing wood products from local downed trees. It’s a division of Hoppe Tree Service, a family-owned business that began in 1972.
“We were tired of seeing good logs go to waste,” said August Hoppe, certified arborist and president of Hoppe Tree Service. “Whether it was chipped up into mulch or cut into firewood, we realized that there could be a higher use for some of these wonderful logs that come from trees right in our local neighborhoods.”
With the Urban Wood Lab, Hoppe said the tree service now provides “a full-circle approach to trees” from planting to maintaining to removing, if needed, and using as timber.
“It can be hard for people to accept that their large old tree needs to come down. If we can make something useful out of the wood that can live on for generations, it makes it easier for the consumer to feel better about their old tree that they loved and cherished,” Hoppe said.
The term urban wood denotes wood that comes from trees growing near people rather than from a commercial forest or unpopulated area. It’s usually intensely local, often coming from people’s yards.
Urban wood doesn’t necessarily mean the wood comes from the inner city. It differs from reclaimed wood in that reclaimed is carefully removed from buildings to be reused or repurposed and does
not directly come from trees. Urban wood is also called rescued wood.
Decorating on the edge
Urban wood can be spectacularly creative used in design, furniture, architecture, art and craft projects.
Right now, stylish liveedge wood that retains some of the textured bark is hot for shelving, countertops and furniture. Trunk slices called rounds are also popular, sometimes used in accent walls or simply as dinner plate chargers that lend a natural, rustic look.
“Rounds are great, and people get very creative with them,” Hoppe said. “People have used them for wedding arrangements, wall art, lazy Susans, stepping stones and wall accents.”
With Hoppe’s partnership with Brown Deer High School students, there’s also an option to laser-engrave rounds or other unique pieces. “It’s allowed us to make some really cool award plaques and special projects for our customers,” Hoppe said.
Mature trees lend themselves to tables or counter tops, with younger trees more suitable for shelving or fireplace mantles, Hoppe said.
Kizaric is planning several projects using urban wood in her new home. She describes her decorating style as eclectic modern using mostly white trim with grays, blues and greens.
Already completed is a custom bathroom vanity top with live-edge wood from the Urban Wood Lab. Manager Patrick Hill constructed the vanity top after hours. Then, contractor Wolter Brothers Builders did a “nice job” installing, she said.
According to Hill, the Urban Wood Lab specializes in one-of-a-kind character pieces. Interestingly, even timber coming from the same species can look different, especially from trees mildly damaged by insects, which can provide charming imperfections.
Those without their own downed wood or on a quick timeline can pick out ready-to-build timber at the shop. If you’re not a do-it-yourselfer, you can hire Hill, or pick from their network of local craftsmen, he explained.
Either way, Hill said, “usually when people come in, they have a vision of their own.”
Kizaric said her oak tree was “massive,” exceeding three feet in trunk diameter. It will be used, along with the ash, for a bed frame and possibly a table.
She is also thinking of updating her current traditional cherry dining table with something fresh using some of the oak.
The cherry tree will become her fireplace mantle. “If I ever move, I am taking the mantle,” she said with a laugh.
Readying the wood
Right now, Kizaric is trying to be patient, as much of her wood has just finished kiln-drying at Hoppe’s Grafton site. Hoppe explained that once a tree comes down, logs are sent to the Grafton site “where most of the fun happens.”
“Logs are then milled, kiln-dried and then processed through our planer or sander. From there they are delivered to the client, or sent off to our Hoppe Urban Wood Lab in West Allis. Some of the wood products are also sent to three local area Habitat for Humanity Restores.”
Habit for Humanity of Wisconsin ReStores’ Rescued Wood Program also sells milled urban wood at select locations.
“Washington/Dodge Habitat started by working with the City of West Bend to take ash trees that needed to be cut down because of the emerald ash borer, and a farmer donated space in a barn for Mill & Kiln operations. Volunteers learned how to mill wood, which is sold in ReStores in West Bend, Beaver Dam, Germantown, Sheboygan and several other places,” said Sara Kierzek, executive director for Habitat for Humanity of Wisconsin.
“The Mill & Kiln just recently began developing partnerships with agencies to create training programs to take some of the wood and turn it into items like furniture and other items.”
Urban Forest Fest
Hoppe Tree Service is a member of Wisconsin Urban Wood, a non-profit network of independent arborists, mill shops, craftsmen, architects and consumers. It’s committed to the social, economic and ecological benefit of urban trees while they live, and after they fall. It’s funded in part by an urban forestry grant from the state Department of Natural Resources Forestry Program.
“The highest use for any tree is for it to grow healthy and strong,” according to its motto. “When it can no longer serve in this way, best practices are to ensure its highest uses by converting the wood into longlived, locally-produced goods.”
Wisconsin Urban Wood will be presenting the fourth annual Urban Forest Fest on Saturday, Sept. 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W. Brown Deer Road in River Hills.
“It’s a celebration of all things urban wood,” said Hoppe.
The free event will feature exhibitions, sawmill demonstrations and hands-on, family-friendly activities with music provided by the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra. A free kids’ climb with Wisconsin Arborist Association arborists will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. To park, a shuttle bus will run beginning at 10 at the Park & Ride Brown Deer Road exit on I-43.
“Urban wood comes from trees where we live,” said Dwayne Sperber, one of Wisconsin Urban Wood’s founding members and owner of Wudeward Urban Forest Products in Delafield. “Urban Forest Fest provides the public an opportunity to witness how Wisconsin Urban Wood is advancing the sustainable recovery and highest and best use of the products that come from urban and community forests.”
Jennifer Rude Klett is a Wisconsin freelance writer of history, food and Midwestern life. Contact her at jrudeklett.com.