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Erl McLaughlin is Colorado born and Oregon bred, and his wife Mary Ann is a third generation Oregonian, whose grandparents arrived in the Wallowa Valley via covered wagon. They own a family farm in northeastern Oregon, outside tiny Enterprise, where they live with their two children.
Erl restored his first tractor in 1983. Since then, word has spread about Erl, so people call him when they find something they know he’ll be interested in. That is how he got into the wagon wheel coffee tables. People told him about wheels, often found in abandoned fields or old barns, and Erl would follow these leads to purchase the rare finds. They are authentic, and Erl puts hours and hours into them, sanding, staining, bringing back to life.
The wine barrels come from Walla Walla, Washington, and are also authentic. That is why these tables are so valuable; they are made one at a time, and can only be made when Erl has the wheel or the wine barrel. As you can imagine, these don’t come along every day.
When Erl does get his hands on one, he takes his time with it; he goes slow. So he can only create a limited number of coffee tables a year. They are labor intensive, because they are labors of love – love of history, love of the West, love of finding new uses for old things, and love of craftsmanship.
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