Where it all began…

They were just scrap pieces, some thrown into a corner; others scattered around. Pieces of pine 2×6’s, 2×8’s, 2×10’s…all scraps accumulated over the last couple of weeks destined for the fire pit. My pre-teen mind questioned - does it have to be this way? Can I find new life for these discarded pieces? Having no power tools, I searched through the scraps, trying to find pieces of the same width and length. After organizing them by size, it was decision time. I’m sure my parents were just watching and wondering why I was giving so much attention to what was now in their minds firewood. I stood there thinking, what can I do with this? I thought I should sit down and try and sketch out some ideas. Then I realized there was no place to sit.

Armed with a hammer and 16p nails, I started cobbling pieces together to make a seat. How do I even out the legs? How do I get the back straight? How do I keep it from wobbling? I had yet to hear the word geometry, much less understand the concept. How many hits does it take to sink a 3” nail? I soon found out is was more than the licks to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop. And there was no wise owl guiding me. My parents were putting up walls moving full steam ahead.

Eventually, it came together. It was a bit high, not the most comfortable, but it was the seat I built. Total cost - $0.00. Total retail value - $0.00. But every weekend I looked forward to sitting in that chair. Pieces now saved from the fire pit had a new life. A life not envisioned earlier. Mistakes were made along the way, but that chair was solid (at least for my body). The irony here is this was the very start - the kindling that lit the fire that continues to burn 40 years later.

The same love that went into building that chair goes into every product we make here at Design and Refine Woodworks. We wouldn’t have it any other way.