Explore This Illinois Woodworker's One-Of-A-Kind Pieces

David Stine is a lifelong woodworker. He learned the craft from his father and grandfather, who owned a dairy farm in Illinois. As a child he had two options: learn to milk a cow or cut wood. He parlayed the latter into a successful business. “I’ve been doing woodworking and forestry my whole life,” Stine says. He’s the fourth generation of his family to steward 1,000 acres, half of which are woods. “That’s where all my materials come from,” he says, referring to native tree species such as light oak, red oak, walnut, cherry and maple.

He carefully selects only timber that has been wind-damaged, is dying or dead, or has lost limbs, and builds one-of-a-kind tables, headboards and desks. Live-edge tables are his specialty, as they “celebrate the inherent beauty of the slabs we have,” he describes. Stine considers the wood’s grain, color and workability before crafting a piece. “I used to torture materials into designs I felt like I should be doing,” he says of his earliest foray into furniture making. “Now I let the material drive the process.”