Summit Table Nearly Complete

Savannah - Last week G8 Summit table maker, Dr. Carl Dohn, began work on the final portion of the large roundtable that leaders will use during the Sea Island Summit on June 8-10. Dr. Dohn expects to have the table finished by mid-May.

Dr. Dohn, an obstetrician and master woodworker, has already put more than 400 hours of labor into the table, during spare time from his full-time medical practice. Dohn is creating the table from an original design, which includes a center base carved to look like the trunk and roots of a tree, topped by a large roundtable.

"Working on an original design like this is a little like taking an anatomy class and then going into a surgery with no supervising physician," said Dohn, explaining the painstaking care that goes into creating a brand new piece of furniture of such a large size and scope."

Dr. Dohn has been constructing the table since receiving the lumber in early February. The wood, collected and donated by Bill Jones III, CEO of the Sea Island Company, was culled from antique heart pine beams that once supported a textile mill in South Carolina.

The table's round top is 15 feet in diameter and 3 inches thick, and is composed of one central part surrounded by 5 detachable pieces that can be used as separate credenzas after the Summit.

Once completed, the G8 Summit table will be transported to Sea Island in preparation for the leaders' meetings. Weighing approximately one ton, the table will provide a spacious setting, allowing 60 inches between each of the eight world leaders, who will have equal sitting at the roundtable.

The Sea Island Summit will be held on June 8-10.