Toad Holler WoodºWorks

of Bainbridge Island, WA was founded by Architect Jeffrey J. Hummel in 2002 at his home shop on Bainbridge Island. The name comes from the name of the street he lives on…Toad Holler Place NE

Jeff has been working in wood since he was quite young. Always building things, wood seemed the perfect medium for his active hands and mind. As he got older, he started mixing steel, aluminum, copper, rubber and glass into his compositions. Still…his pieces almost always include wood in some respect.

Most of his work, unless it is commissioned or custom, is inspired by the materials at hand. An old Cherry tree slice with the center rotted out leaving only pieces that are recognizable as parts of a whole inspired a table called “Pangaea” after the Mesozoic supercontinent that our current continents drifted apart from. The aluminum legs represent the direction of that drift apart. The table “Gondwana” had the same inspiration and is named for the even older supercontinent during the Neoproterozoic period.

He typically finishes his pieces to an almost obsessive surface refinement. Its not unusual for him to sand a table top with teak oil and 2000 to 4000 grit sandpaper leaving an almost glasslike surface. Of course, that depends on the wood choice, the surface intention and numerous other factors. The end result though is to fully see the body of the wood. Unless you go to this level of refinement, you can’t always see the depth of the wood and flares or ripples of light that penetrate it giving it a flame in some cases or a water-like ripples in others. Its all about revealing the soul of the wood.

Sometimes there is no purpose readily identified when he starts on a piece. It evolves as he gets to know the wood he’s working on. Case in point is the Grace Church Future Chapel Alter. The piece of wood is an over 2,000 year old Cedar burl from a Quinault Cedar tree. Imagine a 6’ diameter ‘wart’ on a tree that’s over 20’ in diameter…that’s what this burl came from. When it was cut off, the face of the cut became the flat edge of the slice creating a D-shaped piece of wood.

In working this piece, Jeff kept struggling with this flat edge…it meant something important, but he didn’t know what. The whole piece had a special feeling to it and after refining the finish on it, it spoke to him…”Alter”. At the time, he was attending Grace Episcopal Church and the Priest at the time was Bill Harper so he called Bill to come over and look at it for his thoughts on it. When Bill saw it, he had the same sense about it that Jeff did and asked if Jeff knew why. He said he didn’t and Bill said “I think I know” and began explaining the meaning of a D-shaped table.

Per Bill “In the time of Jesus, people didn’t sit at tables in chairs as we do today, they sat at low tables on pillows and ‘reclined at table’. The tables were often D-shaped so the person serving could get to the table at the flat edge. Jesus, as the servant to man, sat at the flat edge. In the Church, this is where the Priest would stand as the servant to his congregation. So this piece as an alter makes perfect sense.” With that, Jeff finished the table and donated it the Grace Church for their Future Alter.

The wood speaks…we just have to learn to listen.