The Carpenter's Crooked Beam

Marcus Reinhardt had been building furniture in his small Asheville workshop for twenty-two years. He knew red oak like he knew his own hands. So when a massive beam arrived warped and twisted for a custom dining table commission, his first instinct was to force it straight with clamps and steam, muscling the grain into submission. Three days of fighting the wood left him with a cracked beam and bleeding knuckles.…