by ANTHONY QUIRINI – Ravalli Republic
CONNER – For some people as far away as Japan, all they have to do is sit down to enjoy a little piece of the Bitterroot Mountains.

That’s if they bought it from Jim Thomas.

For more than 20 years, Thomas has been taking unique burlwood from the southwestern Bitterroot and transforming it into furniture. His business, Dead Wood Custom Log Furniture, has mastered the art of crafting furniture with uniquely shaped pieces of wood.


Making the furniture might just be easier than getting the wood for it.

Unlike most furniture made with green timber, Thomas uses dead pine found in the Bitterroot’s high alpine forests. Burlwood is a type of fast growing, abnormal growth found on some trees that produces unique shapes and interesting ring patters. It’s caused from stress, damage or fungal and animal attacks. The burlwood Thomas uses grows in high elevations and is weathered, twisted and sometimes bulging – giving it an authenticity unique to few parts of the world.

“In the high-country – 7,000 to 8,000 feet – that’s where you’ll find your character wood,” Thomas said. “It’s a work out, you gotta be in shape to do this.”

He makes some furniture using old trees that were burned in forest fires too.

“You would be amazed at how hard this stuff is,” Thomas’ son, C.J., said. “The heat and the pitch inside of it petrifies it.”

After collecting and packing the wood down mountainsides, Thomas looks at the pieces of wood and selects which pieces would look best where. He then cuts it into the right sizes, and uses tools to create mortise and tenon joints, sands it, then assembles the pieces into tables, chairs, beds and night stands, among other furniture.

He built his first piece of furniture in 1974, and after a suggestion from his father, he started building furniture full time in 1998. Years of practice refined his trade.

When the furniture is put together, he lacquers the wood to bring out the resilience in it, then burns his logo on the product. The end result is a piece of furniture that is more unique than anything manufactured.

You could probably even call it recycling, since the tree is dead or burned when it is harvested, Jim Thomas said.

“It helps clean the forest up – it keeps it healthy,” he said. “We don’t cut anything green.”

If you want to see some of the products Thomas creates, check out his Web site: www.deadwoodfurniture.com

To watch and listen to an audio slideshow of this story, go the Ravalli Republic Web site: ravallirepublic.com

Reporter Anthony Quirini can be reached at 363-3300 or aquirini@ravallirepublic.com