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Couch Carved From 45,000-Year-Old Wood
The kauri wood couch of Bruce and Judy Anderson grabbed Pastor Jim Vargo’s imagination when he visited their ranch in Colorado. The couch was carved out of an ancient and massive stump. The Andersons first saw it while visiting New Zealand. At the time, the couch shape was being roughed out by a chainsaw.

    “The operator was standing on the huge stump end of a log that had to be 7 to 8 ft. in diameter,” recalls Bruce. “The wood was spectacularly beautiful. It had natural curves that would provide arms for a couch. They said it would take months to finish. We said, when it’s done, ship it to us.”

    The couch came from a company called the Ancient Kauri Kingdom. They extract 45,000-year old preserved kauri logs from bogs to create products for sale. Root stumps go for couches and coffee tables, trunk sections for table tops and crafts, and the outside of the tree for natural edge bowls and boards. The company also supplies wood to an exclusive U.S. distributor, Ancientwood (see Vol. 36, No. 6), based in Wisconsin.

    The couch is 9 ft. long and about 5 ft. high at the rear. Anderson estimates it weighs between 800 and 1,000 lbs. “I wasn’t sure how we would get it inside, he says.”

    He built a ramp out of reinforced plywood sheets. The ramp ran over the double-door front entry and inside to the space designated for the couch.

    Anderson says kauri trees still grow in New Zealand. However, they are protected, and none can be cut.

    Contact: Pastor Jim Vargo (ph 314 614-6039; backpacker55@att.net); Ancient Kauri Kingdom, Awanui, New Zealand (www.ancientkauri.co.nz); Ancientwood, La Pointe, Wis. (ph 715 685-0610 or www.ancientwood.com).


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2016 - Volume #40, Issue #2