Thomas Keith open a showroom for their tables in Millthorpe

You can also just do what Tom and Maddy Baker have done with Thomas Keith, begin a business, literally from scratch, with no background in the industry and create tables of such beauty that you give up your original training to immerse yourself deeply into the craft of table making.

"About seven years ago I was working on a corporate farm up in Gunnedah and they had a lot of old buildings that they started pulling them down and burning them," Tom said.

"So I started pulling the timber out, built myself a table, put it on Facebook for sale and it just ramped up from there."

Three years later, Tom moved to Narromine, Maddy moved to Broken Hill, and after much negotiation, they settled on Spring Terrace, just south of Orange, as their permanent base from which to build the business that consists of Tom's first and middle names.

For those seven years Tom continually built and improved his craft, he really had to because he freely admits to not having any training in carpentry and has been learning as he goes.

"Apart from a bit of farm work when you had to build something, I never did woodwork at school and in fact studied sociology and psychology at New England University," he said.

Using nothing but recycled timber in his tables Tom comes up against the inevitable nail or screw hiding in the timber, and has gained a reputation for sourcing some of the finest old and stable timbers to create his tables.

"Sometimes finding good timbers is easy, sometimes it's really tough," he said.

"I have a few demolishers that I work with and they talk to me as soon as they get the timber, but often it's a feast or famine situation."

From Huskisson to Ryde the timbers used in his table are as varied as their history. One table was from timber sourced from Fort Street High School, one of Sydney's oldest schools.

With Tom looking after the hardware, it's Maddy's input that has seen the business grow.

"We used to just build one table and sell it, but now we have a range of tables that are our style that you can buy as they are, but then we have our bespoke table service where you can pick the length, width, tabletop and shape of the legs," Maddy said.

To help expand beyond the online world the couple have opened a small showroom at 33b Victoria Street in Millthorpe, showcasing a few tables from their signature range.

The showroom is open Thursday to Sunday 10am to 4pm or by appointment any other time.

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