I swapped out a furnace at a house this morning that is in the process of being sold since the owner of 55+ years has passed away and she left alot of old furniture behind. I'm no expert by any means to be able to call any of it collectable or antique but it was all really well made and sturdy.
I've grown up with ready to assemble knock together wallmart stuff and truth be told, every time I move most of it gets thrown away cuz it did its 12 months of time and its falling apart. Any kind of heft can be attributed to the amount of glue used to hold the sawdust into a board shape. And in the 30 years i've been on this planet I havent bought one piece that I want my son to have when I'm gone, let alone expect any of it to survive the next 5 years of moving and use.
It was awe inspiring to move a book case that was solid oak, a dinner table that was all solid lumber including almost all of the leaf hardware, a king sized headboard that was all hand turned and joined, and was saddened when I look in the dumpster and saw an old 7 drawer vanity getting pitched. Its in my garage now. It needs alot of work and some veneer replaced... but it was just too nice of a piece to see it get hauled of to the landfill.
And I look at all the furniture in my house and together it all probably adds up to $200 in value. This vanity alone is worth that, and to some people probably alot more. There is a sense of pride knowing that I saved it from the worms, knowing that someones hard work in generations past isnt getting destroyed in the matter of moments it took to drop it into the dumpster.
I guess its just a "they dont make them the way they used to" moment. And that probably why i'm so drawn to woodworking as an art not just a hobby.
And now I feel really bad about writing on my grandmas table with markers when I was a tot
I've grown up with ready to assemble knock together wallmart stuff and truth be told, every time I move most of it gets thrown away cuz it did its 12 months of time and its falling apart. Any kind of heft can be attributed to the amount of glue used to hold the sawdust into a board shape. And in the 30 years i've been on this planet I havent bought one piece that I want my son to have when I'm gone, let alone expect any of it to survive the next 5 years of moving and use.
It was awe inspiring to move a book case that was solid oak, a dinner table that was all solid lumber including almost all of the leaf hardware, a king sized headboard that was all hand turned and joined, and was saddened when I look in the dumpster and saw an old 7 drawer vanity getting pitched. Its in my garage now. It needs alot of work and some veneer replaced... but it was just too nice of a piece to see it get hauled of to the landfill.
And I look at all the furniture in my house and together it all probably adds up to $200 in value. This vanity alone is worth that, and to some people probably alot more. There is a sense of pride knowing that I saved it from the worms, knowing that someones hard work in generations past isnt getting destroyed in the matter of moments it took to drop it into the dumpster.
I guess its just a "they dont make them the way they used to" moment. And that probably why i'm so drawn to woodworking as an art not just a hobby.
And now I feel really bad about writing on my grandmas table with markers when I was a tot
(No pics of this one yet.)
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