From Appalachian forests to a Kunming workshop
Sandry Law selects our black walnut in person, visiting small‑family mills in the Appalachian foothills where trees are allowed to mature slowly — 50 to 80 years — before harvest. The timber is air‑dried for six months, then kiln‑finished to 8 % moisture, a target that prevents warping even in the humid south‑western Yunnan tea rooms where these tables most often live.
Once shipped to Kunming, the planks are joinery‑cut by third‑generation carpenters who Sandry has worked with for over a decade. Every table uses dovetail corner joints — no metal fasteners — and the drainage groove is routed by hand on a jigsaw, following the grain so water never sits across a capillary. The 90 cm size was born from tea-house requests: a table that seats two comfortably yet fits in a Beijing apartment’s tea corner. At 16 kg it feels solid but can be moved by one person, making it equally at home in a pop‑up tea stall as in a permanent chá shì.
Before crating, each piece is rubbed with three coats of food‑safe tung‑oil, buffed with 0000 steel wool, then inspected under LED light for any hairline cracks. The result is a table that needs little more than a damp cloth to stay beautiful through decades of daily tea.