In 2020, Trey Larson suggested to his Dad, Larry, they buy a sawmill and take on woodworking projects, video themselves, and post them on Youtube so they could keep the memories of the two of them doing things together. “We had gotten a sawmill, and we said ‘Okay for fun, we are going to start making some slabs as a hobby to try to turn them into tables some day,” said Trey Larson, a 2010 Plant City High School graduate.
“We got with one of the tree guys around here and asked him if he would bring a couple of logs that we could play with on the sawmill,” said Trey, who at the time was a full-time Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Deputy and SWAT team member. “It was just Dad and I out here doing some projects.” They named themselves Triple L Rustic Designs—Triple L (for Dad—Larry Leon Larson, Jr., and Trey–Larry Leon Larson, III). The father and son played around with their woodworking equipment and made some videos.
About a year later, Trey and his wife, Zoe, also an HCSO Deputy, filmed their process of making a farmhouse table. The video got over one million views. “We were just out here having a good time and not realizing a video can go viral,” Trey said.
Then came the day Trey and his Dad got a Stihl chainsaw with a 60-inch bar. They videoed themselves trying to cut a huge log with the saw. “We weren’t professionals at running this type of chain saw, so I was running it pretty badly,” Trey said. The pair didn’t realize the chain was on backwards. “I could have edited it out, but I left it in there,” Trey said. “People were going nuts in the comments. Everybody was roasting us.” The video has gotten 34…million…views. And it boosted their channel and caused a lot of other videos to go viral. Now the channel has grown to almost 500,000 subscribers.
“We never really planned on it becoming a wood business,” Trey said. “It more started as a fun hobby, and then it quickly turned into a full-time woodworking business with the growth of the channel.”
“It seemed to be a natural progression,” Zoe added.
As the channel continued growing, companies came along to establish partnerships with Triple L Rustic Designs. So, they were able to add equipment and expand their capabilities.
Typically, tree removal services will take logs to a dump, and pay each time. “But since we basically recycle the trees, we allow them to bring them to us and we repurpose them by making them into slabs. Then the slabs get turned into tables and cool designs,” Trey commented.
“Now we work with several tree services,” Zoe added.
Triple L has a band sawmill that cuts logs into live edge slabs. Live edge means the edge of the slabs still carry the original tree’s bark. They have a lumber kiln they use to dry the wood to a place where it can be used. They also use a flattener, adjustable epoxy finishing equipment, and a computer programmed laser that can cut and add designs to wood.
By far the longest step in their process of turning logs into furniture is removing moisture from the wood to the point where the final product won’t deform. Wood air dries at one inch of thickness per year. “Here in Florida it gets so hot it takes less time than that,” Trey commented. Most of the slabs Triple L cuts are two inches thick. They sit outside under cover for six months to a year. When they get to 30 percent of moisture or below, they move them into their lumber kiln where they get dried to 10-13 percent. Even in Florida drying still takes between six months and one year.
“We are one of the only places locally that sells live edge slabs,” Trey commented. “We have a niche above some others because we cut our own slabs, we dry our own slabs, and then we flatten our own slabs so they are ready for a customer to take home and make it into a project.”
Camphor wood is an invasive species and tree guys hate cutting it because of the smell. “Actually, it is one of the most beautiful species in Florida,” Trey commented. “It is native to Australia, but looks just like an oak tree. It is very easy to work with. It dries flat and it is very stable. Often it has a lot of ripples in the wood, but the ripples of the wood produce a holographic effect when it is finished. It is our number one species to work with.”
Since Triple L focuses on live edge wood, customers who buy these slabs use them to make countertops, coffee tables, dining room table, shelves, and mantels. “Our customers come here, they pick out the slab that they want for their project.” added Zoe. “They create a beautiful project, whatever it may be, and they come back and show us pictures of what they have created, and that is really cool.”
“It is really rewarding to take a tree, cut it into slabs, dry the slabs, flatten them, then be able to make a project out of it, and see the beginning to end result and lifespan of that tree,” Trey said. “If we weren’t doing this, then they would just be going to the dump to get burned or rot away into the earth. It is cool to see that we can bring them back to life.”