The Process

Material matters in a huge way. Only the best premium hardwoods are selected board by board for a Hawkins and Sons Table. We love white oak for its weight, stability, and naturally muted greys and tans. White oak is airy and clean, and lends well to a timeless piece whether you lean toward modern or classic style.

Black Walnut is our other favorite, with rich chocolate tones that make your heart beat faster. Black walnut is not as heavy as white oak, but its grains are really tight and make for an effortlessly silky finish. This lumber is timeless, and we use it in classic and slightly more modern styled tables.

Mortise and Tenon joinery has been proven for centuries. This means we connect two pieces together by inserting one's tenon into the other's mortise and securing with wood glue or oak pins. This type of joinery is so much stronger and more stable than using fastners like screws and nails. It is also more tedius, more precise, and thats why it really matters that we take the time to make every joint this way. Our wood to wood joinery ensures your table never rattles apart or gets "loose". It is essentially a solid piece of premium lumber.

We sand every surface properly and with intention. Beginning with 100grit sandpaper, followed by 120grit, 150grit, and 180grit. We raise the grains of the wood between the last two sanding passes to ensure a perfect finish feel. If you use smaller grit sandpaper beyond 180, the surface does not receive the hardwax oil properly, and any less than 180 and the surface never reaches that silky touch.

We don't coat projects in plastic. We use only the cleanest, most premium hardwax oil to finish our projects.

With proper sanding, and a tedious application by hand, we can consistently protect the project while leaving it looking and feeling exactly as it should - like silky, warm, premium hardwood.

That’s why I do this.

And it’s why every table that leaves Hawkins and Sons is still built the old way.

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