Kansas Profile – Now That’s Rural: Rich Schintler, US Wood Slabs
At a glance: Rich Schintler became interested in building live edge tables after seeing them at a friend’s place. He created US Wood Slabs, which creates beautiful live edge wooden furniture which he has shipped as far away as New York.
More information: Ron Wilson, rwilson@ksu.edu, 785-532-7690
Photos: Ron Wilson | Rick Schintler
Website: Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Sept. 30, 2026
Distribution of the weekly Kansas Profile column will end on October 21, due to writer Ron Wilson’s upcoming retirement from Kansas State University. The final column will post October 21. Thank you for your interest in Kansas Profile.
By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University
Do you remember a big tree at your grandparent’s place? Perhaps that tree has fallen down or needed to be removed.
What if a big part of that tree could become a treasured piece of furniture that would last a lifetime? Or perhaps you’re simply looking for wood furniture with an authentic, natural live edge? Those are the types of wood projects carried out by an artisan in rural Kansas.
Rich Schintler is the owner of US Wood Slabs, the business which creates beautiful furniture from large pieces of wood. He grew up in Iowa and studied mechanical engineering at the University of Kansas where he met and married his wife, Stephanie. She was studying pharmacy and took a pharmacist position at Belleville to be closer to her parents in Smith Center.
At left: Rich Schintler | Download this photo
Schintler worked as an engineer and then in sales over a four-state region until the couple’s daughter was born and he wanted to work closer to home.
“I had a friend that had a pizza place with live edge tables in it,” Schintler said. Live edge tables are wood tables that retain the original shape of the trunk of the tree from which it came, rather than being sawed or milled straight.
The natural contours of the wood caught Schintler’s eye and he wanted to try building live edge tables. “I always liked building things,” he said.
Eventually Schintler bought a kiln and a band sawmill. Then the Schintlers bought a property that was formerly a lumberyard, and he set up shop to produce these tables.
From there, he says, “it escalated.”
In 2020, he opened US Wood Slabs. The company specializes in custom live edge furniture, where live edge wood slabs are fashioned into heirloom quality tables or mantels. Schintler builds a steel or wooden base to go under the slab.
A large selection of live edge kiln-dried slabs is available from the company for purchase or for use in a custom project. Stephanie creates attractive earrings from the small pieces.
“I also do custom milling,” Schintler said. If someone has a log that they want to be converted into lumber, he can do that.
“Sometimes there will be parents who have a farm and there’s a tree there that is coming down and might be special to people,” he said.
In such cases, they can have Schintler convert the tree into a beautiful piece of furniture that becomes a lifelong family keepsake.
Live edge furniture has proven popular. “It’s more rustic, but there’s demand for it in upscale houses too,” Schintler said.
Sometimes he will find a log that has an open seam in the middle. That seam can be filled with colored epoxy and then the entire log is covered with clear epoxy. The result creates a beautiful table that looks like a river runs through it. This is called a river table.
Coincidentally, I recently toured an upscale hotel in the St. Louis area and found a river table in the room.
“I’m always looking for great trees,” Schintler said.
What is his favorite wood? “Walnut is hard to beat,” he said. “Cherry is also really nice. I do a lot of oak. It’s hard, and hickory is really hard.”
On occasion, Schintler has driven to his folk’s place in Iowa and brought back hickory and cherry.
Schintler’s daughter and a friend helped build a website for US Wood Slabs. That website contains a gallery of past work, including items with names such as Cherrywood Charm Table, Transcendent Timber Bookmatch Table, Rustic River Kitchen Island, Striking Sycamore FarmHouse Table, Hawkeye Desk, Be Knotty Console Table, and more.
US Wood Slabs Is located on Highway 36, two miles west of Belleville and seven miles east of the rural community of Scandia, population 344 people. Now, that’s rural.
Most customers are local, but he has shipped product as far away as Long Island, New York.
For more information, go to www.uswoodslabs.com.
We commend Rich Schintler for making a difference with his artisanship. Would he like to take a wooden log and make it into a beautiful custom piece of furniture?
He would.
Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at www.huckboydinstitute.org/kansas-profiles. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit www.huckboydinstitute.org.
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