Buckeye Burl Table Short by Fred Tomlin

Fred Tomlin

Fred Tomlin has been making burl tables since the early 1970’s.  His tables can be found from the shoreline of Fisherman’s Wharf to central Texas to Wisconsin. Before Fred started his table business, he was a commercial fisherman.  He was the owner of several different fishing vessels, each one just a little bigger than the one before. He mainly fished crabs, but also fished salmon, albacore, halibut and the occasional abalone.   He harbored his boat in the 70’s to work in Timber Cove, Marin County, CA where he ran the Timber Cove Inn, bartended at the same establishment, drove a school bus, monitored the water system , patrolled as a security agent for the properties, and built burl tables. When he left Mendocino County and moved to Humboldt County, he resumed fishing on a commercial basis for the next 20 years. During the off season of fishing, Fred was the the successful owner of Fred’s Finishing for over 30 years in Humboldt County, California where he applied his talents in wood to bar tops, tables, new homes, moldings, trims, and other types of finishing.  When he retired in 2008 and moved to sunny Arizona, Fred discovered he could not play golf seven days a week, so he went in search of something else to fill his time.  Nothing appealed to him until he spied his 35 year old lace burl piece in his garage.  And voila, “Fred’s Creative Wood” became his passion and business. He is creating tables again and enjoying the artistic process of finding the right bases for the right slabs and creating beautiful pieces of furniture.