CHAPTER 26: Building a Quilt or Rug Ladder
CHAPTER 28: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques
CHAPTER 29: Making Money from Scraps
FOREWORD
My education in the area of making rustic and log furniture came from the College of Hard Knocks. As I was going through each lesson in life, I realized how little information was available about this subject. As I suffered setback after setback, I kept thinking, someone should write a book about this stuff so other folks won’t have to endure the pain and suffering I went through. I finally decided I should write this book.
I don’t have a fancy studio or gallery, but I have sold and traded my furniture to countless folks across North America. I have even traded my artwork in logs for two free fishing trips in Canada.
Unlike some craftsmen I have encountered, I want to share my experience with you. I want you to succeed and make beautiful furniture. So here it is, from my garage to yours.
Happy building!
INTRODUCTION
Why Rustic and Log Furniture?
There are many reasons why folks love rustic and log furniture.
For some of us, the deep earthy colors of a hickory chair or table is a visual reminder of a family vacation to the wilderness of the Northwoods, of the wild open western United States, of one of the many gorgeous National Park lodges, like those at the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, or Yosemite. If you paid attention, you’d recognize the familiar basket-weave pattern of hickory used by Old Hickory Furniture. Old Hickory Furniture was manufactured in Martinsville, Indiana, for generations, and Martinsville has been my home for over two decades.
Others may have fallen in love with a piece of locally handcrafted furniture while at a remote hunting or fishing lodge. I think about the clatter of golden aspen leaves in a light breeze while hunting up north when I think about rustic settings. I think of our adventures in the mountains in Arizona, or of bear hunting and muskie fishing in Canada every time I use a piece of aspen.
Some may want to commemorate an old house, shed, or barn from a family homestead by using recycled material from them. For example, I have a bookshelf I made from wood I had been squirreling away from various locations in which we lived over the decades. Some of the wood came from an old shed on a ranch we lived on in Mancos, Colorado. I had used the shed as a blind when hunting for mule deer.
Some of the weathered planks came from an old dump near Hillside, Arizona, that I scavenged from as I drove back and forth from Prescott to a large copper mine in the middle of nowhere.
This bookshelf is a visual compilation of my woodworking life. Pieces of it came from shed, barns, and dumps in Colorado, Arizona, and Indiana. The back is rusted corrugated roofing.
Other boards came from an old shed that I used to make maple syrup in here in Indiana. Along with spending hundreds of hours boiling down syrup, I also learned to play guitar while tending the fire under the evaporator in that shed.
The back is rusted brown corrugated sheet metal from an old hog shed that was tumbling down at another place where we lived, where deer and turkey walked through our yard and coyotes serenaded us at night.
I’d intended to give the bookshelf away, but as I built it, and pulled piece after piece down out of the storage in the rafters, I realized I was making a visual reminder of all the places I had fond memories of. The bookcase was a piece of me, and I of it. I realized I couldn’t part with it. The bookcase sits next to me now as I write this.
CHAPTER 1 GETTING IDEAS AND FINDING INSPIRATION
For me, getting ideas was never difficult; implementing them has always been the hard part. If you are short on ideas, travel to a state or national park that has a lodge or inn. Almost without exception, they will have log furniture placed in the lobby or other common areas.
Lodges, hotels, and shops are a fantastic place to get ideas for rustic and log furniture. It’s a great way to see how other craftsman made their artwork.
I strongly recommend stopping at every rustic and log furniture store you see. Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is almost overrun with log furniture outlets and makers, as are other tourist destinations. Go into any Bass Pro Shop or Cabela’s and you’ll see countless pieces of log furniture. Take pictures if they allow it. You can’t help going away with hundreds of ideas on how to replicate or improve on the furniture you saw.
In some cases, you might think that a piece is too complex to make. It might be, right now. But, as you gain experience (and accrue tools), things that were impossible become possible. In some cases, you might walk away emboldened, thinking, “Heck, I can do better than that!” And you’re right, you probably can.
If you still need inspiration, find a copy of Rustic Artistry for the Home by Ralph Kylloe. The book is filled cover-to-cover with photos of beautiful log and rustic creations.
Visit living history museums like Cades Cove in Tennessee or Conner Prairie in Indiana. Pioneers made many of their necessities from what was available in the woods and all they had invested was time. The Foxfire series of books documents much of the commonplace knowledge that is fading from society. Among the many topics in the series is making rustic furniture the Appalachian way and even building a lumber kiln.
Why Not Buy Log Furniture?