Wooden boat owners know that wood is a beautiful material, but unlike fiberglass or carbon fiber, wood can fall prey to rot. And so wooden vessels can require rebuilding at times. A famous example of this is the USN’s wooden frigate USS Constitution which is the U. S. Navy’s oldest commissioned ship and which, at 224 years old, undergoes regular rebuilds. And it turns out that some of the wood from rebuilds in 2007 and 2017 was still usable and so the navy SeaBees built a desk from it for the use of the sitting Vice President.

According to  Paul Taylor, as spokesman for the Naval History and Heritage Command, the desk was delivered to current Vice President Kamala Harris in February after about a month of work. The desk has carvings of eagles and stars that are similar to the stern decorations on Constitution. The desk was built at the Navy Yard’s National Museum of the U.S. Navy by Navy Builder 1st Class Hilary Lemelin; Steelworker 2nd Class Elijohana Cole and Builder 2nd Class Donald Morse IV with Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command; and Senior Chief Constructionman Noah Zeigler with Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Atlantic.

Maybe not all wooden boat rebuilds produce enough material for a desk, but making an object out of the replaced wood sounds like a great tradition, even it’s only a coaster or a bookmark!