One oversized Thanksgiving table started Canton’s Rustic Trades

The first table Clay Adams built was too big for his house.

On Thanksgiving morning in 2007, his family helped carry it from the garage into the living room. Adams and his wife, Maggie, had been thinking about how many relatives they needed to seat. They had given less thought to how much space would be left afterward.

The table took over most of the living area. It also gave Adams, then working in software sales, something else to think about.

Nearly two decades later, his business, Rustic Trades, makes custom hardwood tables for homes across North Atlanta. Its commercial branch, Refined Industrial, supplies restaurants, offices and sports venues. During a November 11 visit to the Canton workshop, Adams moved between finished furniture, unfinished bases and slabs of wood, explaining how that first household project became his working life.

He is preparing for another move. Adams said he plans to relocate the business in December to the Alpharetta area, near Highway 9 and Hamby Road, with a larger showroom and a smaller, more efficient workshop.

For now, the work continues at 109 Railroad St., where customers can see much more than a finished dining room.

Adams once had a separate showroom in Roswell. It was polished and comfortable, he said, but customers could choose a table and have it arrive at home without understanding much about how it was made. He wanted something closer to visiting a vineyard: meeting the maker, seeing the work and developing an appreciation for what would eventually come home.

So the company carved out showroom space inside its shop.

There, a conversation about buying a table can turn into a discussion of tree rings, moisture, grain or the time required to shape a pedestal. Adams pointed to two bases, one in white oak and another in poplar, and explained how the choice of wood changes both the cost and the labor. Each of those bases, he estimated, could take one craftsman 40 to 50 hours to build.

He remembers needing that kind of explanation himself.

After marrying in 2007, he and Maggie expected relatives from both families for the holidays. They looked through furniture stores but could not find a table that satisfied them on size, materials and price. Adams had some remodeling experience. Furniture making was new.

He bought a saw, took over the garage and began trying to work it out. Eventually, he walked into a Woodcraft store and admitted he needed help.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” he recalled telling the staff.

They connected him with a woodworker who became a mentor. Adams began learning how wood moves and how furniture needs to be built to accommodate it. He also started a blog, posting what he was making and what he was figuring out.

After the Thanksgiving table came a crib, changing table and daybed for the couple’s first child. Those projects drew him further into joinery and construction.

The first paying customer found the blog. Adams recalled taking the call while attending a software trade show, dressed in a suit and tie. The caller, a Coca-Cola executive with an English accent, wanted a table for his Atlanta home. Adams thought a friend was playing a prank and hung up.

The man called back.

His request was memorable: a table that looked as though it had come from a shipwreck in England. Adams built it. The customer then encouraged him to photograph the piece in the house and share it online. Adams said roughly 30 orders followed within weeks.

He eventually left software sales, and Rustic Trades was established in 2010.

The work expanded beyond family dining rooms. Adams recalled a call in early 2016 about a standing wine-tasting table. Before he could learn where it was going, he had to sign a nondisclosure agreement. The project was for the Atlanta Braves’ new ballpark, and the initial conversation led to a larger furniture contract.

Through Refined Industrial, the company’s projects now include tables for the Truist Club and Delta Club, furniture for Rumi’s Kitchen and Coalition, and millwork for Mujo.

Expansion also brought difficulties. Adams said the business had about 24 employees in 2018 and 2019, with an operation in Colorado as well as Georgia. The pandemic disrupted the Colorado business, which closed, and the company consolidated back in Georgia.

There was a point, he recalled, when he and his operations officer were discussing which employees they might have to let go. A large sale arrived the following day and helped them through. Demand later picked up as people spent more time at home.

Today, Adams said, the team numbers about six. He has come to prefer a smaller staff of experienced craftspeople and has little appetite for repeating the strain of the earlier expansion.

“More revenue doesn’t mean more happiness,” he said.

Among the craftspeople is David Turner, who specializes in farm tables and their tops. During the visit, he was working on two tables destined for Thanksgiving meals.

Inside the shop, the choices are often smaller and more tangible: which slab a customer prefers, how much of its natural shape to preserve, whether a crack should become part of the finished surface. Adams said walnut and white oak have become favorites among his customers, while some still want cherry to match furniture they have owned for years.

Broad slabs retain the irregular outlines of the trees they came from. Cracks can be filled with epoxy to make the surface practical for dining while keeping those features visible. Nearby, pallets of shorter offcuts wait for local hobbyists who can turn them into cutting boards, bowls and other small pieces.

Another craftsman, Dustin, drew a quick introduction from Adams: “Dustin’s the wood wizard.”

Family names run through the furniture designs. The Clayton takes Adams’ own name; the Weston is named for his eldest child. Years after building the original oversized table, Adams brought Weston into the shop to help make another one for Maggie.

That table is in their home now.

Adams used to bring the workshop team along on deliveries so the people who had built a piece could see the customer’s reaction. He wanted them to witness what happened after the sanding and finishing were done.

One of Turner’s Thanksgiving projects was a large round table, still in the workshop with equipment resting on it. Soon, another family would be pulling up chairs.

More from the workshop

Photos: Tsvi Jolles.