by Mary Reid Barrow

A tree deserves a second life is woodworker Tom Kane’s philosophy.

Giving felled trees a beautiful new life as furniture also has become like a second life for Tom in his retirement.

He donated a handsome oak coffee table to LRNow’s office and a cherry wine rack to the Oyster Roast silent auction, living proof of his philosophy.

Tom, who lives in Wolfsnare Plantation, had a part time tree business when he worked as a fireman for the Ocean City Fire Department in Maryland before coming here to retire.

“I would not cut a tree down unless it was a hazard or was going to fall due to decay,” he said of his days in Maryland.

When Tom retired and he and his wife moved here to be with family, he brought along all his saws and other gear. Though he no longer cuts trees down, he salvages them from friends and along roadsides, curing the wood and repurposing it into furniture.

“I got a little help from YouTube videos and the like,” he said.

Out of that grew Coastal Saw and Slab. His daughter recently created a website for him that lays out his philosophy: https://www.coastalsawandslabvb.com

“If it turns into a little retirement gig, that’s fine,” Tom said. “If not, I’ll just keep giving what I make away, just to be used and let someone see nature having a second life.

“It’s a good hobby,” he added. “It keeps me out of trouble!”

The beautiful coffee table and wine rack were not LRNow’s first introduction to Tom. Not long after he moved here, he showed his commitment to all of nature when he contacted LRNow’s Pearl Home Manager Terri Gorman to find out about becoming a Pearl Home.

“It’s a no brainer,” he said. “Just follow the steps. After becoming a Pearl Home, my goal was to have Wolfsnare become a Pearl Neighborhood.”

That required his going to neighborhood events and civic league meetings to get 30 percent of the Wolfsnare families to become Pearl Homes which he did. Now, there’s no stopping him.

He leads a big neighborhood clean-up every year around Earth Day. The cleanup is so big that it includes renting a dumpster.

“We fill that sucker up,” he said.

He invites Terri out to speak on environmental topics to the neighborhood civic league every year and he sets up at table with LRNow’s educational materials at all their meetings.

“Tom is my model Pearl Home Neighborhood Captain,” Terri said.

Tom is a substitute teacher when he’s not crusading for more Pearl Homes or repurposing wood.

His projects range from coffee and kitchen tables to benches and mantelpieces. He keeps a supply of tree cookies in various sizes on hand, as well as wooden slabs for others who may be do-it-yourselfers.

He specializes in trees, whether storm-damaged or purposely removed from the landscape that would otherwise be cut up and hauled away, and he will haul it away in his truck instead. He also will build or help you build something from a tree you loved.

“Before you discard a tree,” he said, “consider what it could become.”

Tom lives as he preaches.