Franklin College students coming to classes in the school’s Barnes Hall had passed underneath the shade of the massive walnut tree for decades.
The more than 100-year-old tree had grown on the north side of the school’s science building, towering over the campus. But as plans for an expanded science center came together, the tree’s close proximity to building made construction impossible without cutting it down.
Even so, the walnut tree will remain part of the campus, just in a different way.
With the help of a local artist, wood from the walnut tree will again be a central part of student life at the science center. The college had wood from the tree milled and processed, to be turned into one-of-a-kind study tables by artist Sean Fagan.
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Slabs of the richly grained wood are being worked on now, and the hope is to have the tables ready for students to gather around by November.
"It’s a neat project to that tree put to good use, and be used for some beautiful tables for people to sit around at," Fagan said. "Otherwise, the tree probably would have become firewood at that point."
Inside his Franklin workshop, Fagan has the massive 4-feet-by-9-feet slab of walnut wood laid out and ready to be worked on.
Over the coming weeks, it will be sanded, manipulated and worked with to make sure it’s perfectly level and smooth. Hours of work will go into making sure rough spots and imperfections disappear.
For the job ahead of him, Fagan is thankful that he’s working with a fine wood such as walnut.
"Walnut is one of the better woods, very easy to work with. You don’t have to do too much to it to make it look beautiful," Fagan said. "It already has its color to it. It has its own beauty to it."
Franklin College’s new science center is a testament to the school’s future. Top-of-the-line technology, innovative learning spaces and new equipment will ensure that students are prepared for science-based careers in the coming decades.
But the past is important as well. Displays will show off some of the microscopes, lab materials and other equipment that have been used inside Barnes Hall, connecting the building’s heritage with its future.
Using a long-standing tree in a new way inside the science center grew out of the school’s commitment to sustainability management, said Thomas J. Minar, president of Franklin College.
"At this institution, we love trees. We have a tree-replacement policy, where we replace a ones that came down with at least one other tree," he said. "This is a very important expression of sustainability, and we’re really committed to that."
Todd Bemis, a 1984 graduate of Franklin College and one of its trustees, spearheaded the effort. He is the owner and president of Bemis Group, a local construction, development and design company.
Knowing that construction on the science center would require the tree to come down, he approached administrators about using its wood in another way.
"This tree was interesting and momentous, and the possibility came up to do something with the wood, and we’re all in favor of it," Minar said. "It’s recycling, not just burning it or dumping it."
College officials supported his idea. With a plan on what he wanted done with the walnut tree wood, Bemis also had an artist in mind who could bring that vision to life. Fagan had formerly worked with Bemis Group for 15 years.
For Fagan, it was a unique opportunity to be part of a project from the very beginning — when it’s still a living tree.
"It’s pretty exciting. I don’t always see the tree from when it’s alive and being used as a shade tree," Fagan said. "Usually by the time it gets to me, it has already been cut down and is in slab form. So it’s pretty amazing for me to see the tree and be involved in the process of cutting it down."
After the tree was cut down, Fagan oversaw the milling of the wood, with specialists cutting it into slabs that would be suitable for furniture use. The tree was so big they couldn’t take it to a typical sawmill.
Instead, they used what is called an Alaskan mill. The massive chainsaw is taken directly to the tree and operated by multiple people to cut slabs of wood.
The wood slabs had to be dried, so Fagan had them kiln-dried to harden and solidify them. He received the slabs in September, and first worked to flatten each down so it could be more easily managed.
"When I get it, it’s pretty rough and a little bit twisted. So you have to make sure it’s flat and the same consistent thickness," he said.
Once done, he will use sandpaper with a variety of different grits and levels of fineness to ensure it is uniformly smooth.
Any small holes or dips can be filled with epoxy to again smooth it out and stabilize the wood. When all of that work is done, Fagan will attach custom-made metal bases to the wood, and a clear coat on top will protect the final project.
His plan is to make three large study tables, with the potential to use a cross section of the tree to make a smaller round table.
"It’s just a big round piece of slab that shows all of the growth rings and things like that," he said.
