The Old Growth Collection
Custom old growth redwood furniture, built from salvaged timber.
Coast redwood grows on one narrow strip of the California coast and nowhere else on earth. Every piece here is milled from salvaged old growth: trees that stood a thousand years or more before they came down. No new old growth is cut. What exists is what remains.
What old growth coast redwood actually is
Sequoia sempervirens grows in the fog belt that runs from just below the Oregon border down to Big Sur, a band roughly four hundred and fifty miles long and rarely more than thirty miles wide. Nowhere else on the planet supports it. The trees are the tallest living things on earth and the oldest of them were standing well before the Norman conquest.
What separates old growth from the redwood sold at a lumberyard is not the species. It is time. A tree that grew slowly under a closed canopy for eight or ten centuries lays down twenty to thirty growth rings per inch. Fast grown second growth, harvested on a sixty year rotation, lays down three or four. That difference is the whole story: it is why old growth heartwood is denser, more dimensionally stable, deeper in color, and far more resistant to decay and insects than anything cut today.
Roughly five percent of the original old growth redwood forest is still standing, and it is protected. That is the correct outcome. It also means the supply of old growth redwood lumber is fixed and finite. It will never increase.
Where our wood comes from
Every board in this collection was already out of the forest before we bought it. We work three salvage streams:
- Reclaimed structural timber. Beams, joists, water tank staves, and bridge members pulled from buildings and structures put up between the 1880s and the 1940s, when old growth redwood was the ordinary construction lumber of Northern California.
- Water salvaged logs. Logs that sank in transit a century ago and were later recovered. Cold, low oxygen water preserves them remarkably well.
- Stumps and downed material. Wood left in the woods by logging that finished generations ago, recovered from private land under permit.
Salvaged timber arrives with nail holes, checks, bolt scars, and the marks of whatever life it had before. We do not sand that history away. Where a defect threatens the structure of a piece we address it with joinery or an inlay you can see. Where it is simply evidence, it stays.
How it gets from salvage yard to finished piece
Reclaimed timber has to be metal detected before it goes anywhere near a blade, then broken down, resawn, and brought to a stable moisture content for indoor furniture. Wood that spent eighty years in a barn is not the same as wood that spent eighty years underwater, and neither is ready to become a table the week it arrives. Some of what we buy sits in the shop for a year before it is worth cutting.
That waiting is part of what these pieces cost, and it is the reason we cannot promise old growth redwood on a schedule. When a slab that suits a client’s project surfaces, we move on it. When nothing suitable surfaces, we say so.
Collection Pieces · Available
Finished, priced, and ready to ship anywhere in the country.
Each of these is a one of one. When a collection piece sells it is gone, because the material to build a second one does not exist.
Collection Piece 01
The Sempervirens Table
Salvaged old growth coast redwood on a hand shaped pedestal base. The figure in this top formed over centuries, one growth ring at a time, in a tree that predates every building in North America.
54 inch round. Seats six.
$14,800
Inquire about this pieceEvery collection piece ships nationwide with insured white glove delivery, crated for transit and placed in the room where it will live. Trade inquiries from interior designers and architects are welcome.
Commissioning in old growth
You can also have one built to your dimensions.
Collection pieces are what the material allowed. A commission is what your room needs. Both start with the same conversation.
A commissioned piece in salvaged old growth redwood follows the same six step process as any other Trumanmade commission, with one difference: the material comes first. We cannot start a redwood commission until the right salvaged stock is in the shop, and that timing is genuinely out of our hands.
What we can do is take your specification, watch for it, and come back to you the moment something surfaces that fits. Clients waiting on a specific width or length are on a short list we check against every load we look at.
If your timeline is fixed and short, we will usually steer you toward claro walnut or white oak instead, and we would rather say that up front than sell you a wait you did not agree to.
- Commission range
- From $8,000
- Typical lead time
- 3 to 6 months
- Delivery
- All 50 states
Old growth redwood commissions typically start here and rise with size and base complexity.
From deposit to delivery, once suitable material is in hand.
Insured white glove delivery, quoted per destination.
Questions we get
Old growth redwood, answered plainly.
Is it legal and ethical to buy old growth redwood furniture?
Yes, when the wood is salvaged rather than newly cut, which is the only kind Trumanmade buys. No new old growth redwood is felled for this collection. Every board comes from timber that was already out of the forest: reclaimed structural beams from demolished buildings, water salvaged logs, and stumps and downed material left behind by logging that happened generations ago. Buying salvaged old growth puts existing wood to its highest use instead of letting it go to landfill or firewood.
What makes old growth redwood different from the redwood at a lumberyard?
Age and growth rate. Old growth coast redwood grew slowly for centuries, so the annual rings are packed tight, often twenty to thirty rings per inch against three or four in fast grown second growth. That tight ring structure gives old growth heartwood its deep color, its quiet uniform figure, its dimensional stability, and its natural resistance to decay and insects. Commercially available redwood today is almost entirely young second growth and does not look or behave the same way.
Is redwood durable enough for a dining table?
With the right finish, yes, and it has been used for dining furniture for over a century. Redwood is a softwood, around 450 on the Janka hardness scale, roughly half that of black walnut, so it takes dents and marks more readily. We build old growth redwood dining pieces with a hard wearing catalyzed finish and we are honest with clients about it: this wood records the life of the room. If you want a surface that stays pristine, claro walnut or white oak is the better choice, and we will tell you so.
How much does an old growth redwood table cost?
Collection pieces currently run from $6,400 to $14,800 depending on size and the rarity of the slab. A commissioned piece in salvaged old growth redwood typically starts around $8,000 and rises with dimensions, base complexity, and how exceptional the material is. Every quote is written and itemized once the specification is final.
Can you ship old growth redwood furniture to my state?
Yes. Every Old Growth Collection piece ships anywhere in the United States with insured white glove delivery, crated for transit and placed in the room where it will live. Delivery is quoted per destination once the piece and address are known. In California this wood is familiar. Everywhere else it is close to mythic, and most of these pieces leave the state.
Can I commission a new piece in old growth redwood rather than buy from the collection?
Yes, subject to material. Commissioning in old growth redwood depends entirely on what is on hand or what surfaces during the design phase, which is the one part of the process we cannot promise on a schedule. If you tell us the dimensions and the form you want, we will watch for the wood and come back to you when a slab that fits appears.
One next step
Tell us the room, and we will tell you what the wood can do.
Old growth redwood commissions begin with a conversation about dimensions, use, and timing. Reply within one business day, or call (917) 415-4946.