Unique Rustic Wood Furniture & Crafts
I love this video piece on a couple guys who take discarded or salvaged wood and turn them into one-of-a-kind bikes. Sometimes the wood comes from urban arborists who have to trim trees around power lines and other times it comes from discarded lumber. Whatever the source the finished pieces are beautiful, fully functional, and will turn heads on the road.
Sorry, but they make you watch an ad before the video starts.
Southern Accents
Remember what that was like? Remember the awe and wonder you felt seeing so many wonderful things all in one place? The anticipation and decision making involved in choosing from so many options?
This is the essence of a visit to Southern Accents Architectural Antiques in Cullman, AL, for me and I would bet for anybody who fixes or builds furniture or does restoration. SA is a museum of architectural history and oddities that you can touch—and take home with you.
I am always amazed at what I see when I get to visit. I know I am going to see salvaged doors, mantles, shutters, leaded glass, claw-foot tubs, hinges, door knobs, and newel posts. All really wonderful handcrafted items with history and character. But there is always at least one thing that is totally random.
On a recent trip with a friend, I was not disappointed. She was there to find a claw-foot tub for a new home build. I was there because I never miss a chance to visit. I don’t know the number of items they have there, but it has to be hundreds of thousands, if you count all the hinges, antique keys, and drawer pulls. We browsed through rooms and rooms of salvaged materials and most of it I had seen the like of there or somewhere else.
But as I said, there is always at least one thing that is weirdly out of place—if you are in the market for a 5 foot tall concrete Chinese lion, they have one for sale.
One of the hazards of being a recycling woodworker is the drive by pick up. Sometimes it is worth an immediate stop and sometimes it sticks with you and you have to go back for a closer look. It all depends on what part is broken or in need of repair, what tools you have and what the cost of replacement parts or materials might be.
Sometimes it is a wasted trip upon a closer look–such was the case today. A rocker along side the road at 35 mph looked like a repairable thing, but at a dead stop it was too far gone to be worth it. Sometimes you get lucky–like the time I grabbed an Adirondack chair off a trash pile and all it needed was some sanding, screw tightening, and a new finish. Bonanza!
