Green Ideas For A Green Business!

Greenleaf Woodwork's! I've wanted my own business since I earned my first paycheck at my first job at the age of 16. So now that I've invested my life savings and so much time into building my business, I've got to make sure I do it right. So I'm constantly thinking creatively, researching facts and listening to customers/feedback in attempts to maximize my potential and efficiency to build a successful earth conscious and green construction company. There are numerous reasons why it's so difficult to be 100% green. #1. It's expensive. All the new technology such as solar panels, wind turbines, etc... is still fairly expensive. Even recycled material is more expensive than the commonly available materials. So it's hard to convince your customer to spend that extra money on these green materials on an already expensive upgrade such as hardwood floors. #2. There are a lot of factors to take into consideration. I use a lot of different tools, equipment, and materials in my line of work. But I have a long term goal I'm working to achieve which would leave me 100% green and decreases my carbon footprint to almost non-existent or invisible. With that being said, I had a good idea the other day. For every 500 sq. ft. of hardwood I install, I plant a tree seedling to replace the wood I used in installation. I will either plant it on the customers land or my land. So if I install 1500 sq. ft. of walnut, I will plant 3 walnut seedlings wherever the customer prefers. This won't replace the wood immediately but is an extra step I want to take to help restore one of the beautiful resources that mother earth provides us with. This is just one of many ideas I plan to install in my business plan that helps to reduce my footprint. I will continue to add ideas and would love to know what you followers think. I would love to hear your opinions, thought and ideas on this subject. We work together to make a better place for tomorrow and the next day!!

Refinishing Furniture

We found this mini writer's desk at an old antique store. It did have a really bad burn/stain on the surface of the desk top. It's an old piece. So the lacquer was a dull orange and caked on. It quickly gummed up my sandpaper, so I went through quite a bit. I sanded it down to bare wood. That's when I found out that it was a beautiful piece of furniture. It's made of red oak and most of it is quarter sawn with ray fleck running all through it. The little desk has a lot of tiny cracks and seams that made for some tedious sanding. But once it was done, it looked good and made it well worth it. To finish it I decided to use a wiping varnish. This is more time consuming but leaves a strong, flawless finish that provides layers of protection. Wiping varnish is 2 parts varnish (poly) and 3 parts mineral spirits. I mix them in a mason jar and stir until the color is consistent. I use a mason jar with fill lines allowing you to mix equal parts and if there is any left over, screw the lid down tight and it will keep for a while. But I try to mix only what I need. That's something you get better at the more you do it. There are a few tricks to this. So I will share the Tricks Of The Trade (TOTT): Prep surface with 220 grit sandpaper. Once surface is nice and smooth, use a tack cloth to remove all the dust. Here's the trick, with the first coat use a soft rag. The goal isn't to apply a smooth coat like you think you would with a brush. But instead, you want to flood surface and let the thin varnish flow out and penetrate the pores of the wood. The first coat on unsealed wood tends to soak in quick so go back over each area to keep it wet. Once the surface is coated, let it sit for about 5 minutes before you come back and wipe it off. You want to leave a thin film of finish but not a wet layer. The trick is to start wiping before the varnish gets sticky. Try to be thorough without wiping too hard. Let it dry for about 4-8 hours. Once it's dry sand lightly with a 220 grit sandpaper. Every time you sand you need to remove the dust from the surface using a tack cloth. For the second, third and fourth coats I use a foam brush to apply a smooth wet layer of wiping varnish WITHOUT a wipe down. This builds a thicker film. This time between coats use steel wool to sand out any dust nibs or fuzz that got trapped in the finish. This will leave the surface super smooth. And for the final coat use a soft rag again applying a thin coat with the wipe on/wipe off method similar to the first coat minus the surface flooding. This leaves a unique finish that is only achievable through the "TOTT" I just shared with you. Give it a try! Look at that finish, that shine!

New Business

I'm so passionate about wood that I decided to start my own company. I'm providing several specialty services. Custom woodworking: Countertops, Butcher Block Islands, Cabinetry, Finish Trim, and Furniture. But my main focus is installing and refinishing hardwood floors! I recently spent all my savings on a bunch of flooring equipment. I have a drum sander, an edger, two buffers, routers, and nailers. And it's all neatly organized in a trailer that I will soon have wrapped in a wrap bearing the company name, Greenleaf Woodworks. So if you need some work done, please email me at greenleafwoodworks@gmail.com I will continue to use this blog to post my company progress and work completed. Thanks for the work, as I love each new challenge and take it on with passion. This is what I live for.

A Recycled Bedside Table

When I moved back to Chapin from Charleston, I realized I didn't own much furniture. My bedside table in Charleston was a particle board cubicle that was damaged during the move. But after a month of living without a bedside table I realized how much I actually used it. It provides a spot for my alarm clock, water, lamp, book(nightly read) and remote. So I decided to build one. When I was cleaning out the shop (was a storage building but I'm cleaning it out to turn it into a fully functioning workshop!) I found an old school desk my mom had purchased from an antique store, Harper's, in Walhalla, SC. Given it's shape and style, I would date the desk from the 1950's to 1960's. The base is solid pine and it had a wooden top with a piece of plastic laminate for the writing surface. It's had mold all over it. So I wiped it down with diluted bleach to get all the mold off. Then I cut the top off and exposed the interior of the storage slot. It was covered in dust and cobwebs. More cleaning! I decided not to sand the base because the patina, nicks, scratches and writing gave it character. And all this is the voice for the desk and tells it's story. You can see in the pictures, the writing looks to be from a kid. Who knows? but it's so cool. I took some of my scrap strips from my wood pile and glued them up to make a top. The top consists of 9 different species of wood, all of which is recycled hardwood flooring. American Cherry, Brazilian Cherry, White Oak, Red Oak, Sapele, Santos Mahogany, Honduran Mahogany, Reclaimed Pine & Brazilian Red Wood. So this table is 100% recycled. More reason to think before you throw something away, asking yourself: "what else could I use this for?" On second thought......

Cutting Boards From Recycled Flooring

I've been installing and refinishing hardwood floors for over 2 years now. When I lived in Charleston installing & refinishing hardwoods in the oversized houses on Kiawah Island I was e

xposed to some very fine and pricey woods. I was given the opportunity to be able to work with several different species of wood. Domestic hardwoods like white oak, red oak, walnut and american cherry. And imports such as brazilian cherry, cumaru, purlpleheart, santos mahogany and angeline. We refinished a floor that was 4,500 sq ft. of Walnut and every plank was crotch wood. Sanded and coated an entire house of quarter sawn white oak and it had ray fleck running all through it. It was absolutely beautiful. The biggest house we did was 7,500 sq. ft. of walnut (CEO of Procter & Gamble). The house was 9,000+ sq. ft. I'd never seen 7,500 sq. ft. of living space much less that much heart walnut. This was a 7 million dollar house and the floors alone cost half a million dollars. So I was exposed to some very expensive wood and a lot of it. But while the wood was plentiful so was the WASTE. You could build a house with what was thrown in the dumpsters. The clients were extremely picky. They would make us rip up walnut planks because they had too much blonde in it. (Just so you understand, Walnut: the sapwood-the outer wood of the tree is white/blonde. the heartwood-the inner wood,center of the tree is brown/black.) And of course all the boards we pulled up was thrown in the dumpster. So I decided to start dumpster diving and started saving all the wood. After a year of saving, I had a huge pile. So I decided to make butcher blocks and cutting boards from scrap hardwood flooring. I had to de-nail, plane and ripped the wood into strips. Then I glued them up. And when I created was art but remember this is art that was made from trash. It would be in a landfill if it weren't for dumpster diving and recycling. Tell me what you think!

A Custom Pump House Using Recycled Material

I was asked to fix the roof on this dilapidated pump house. But convinced the owner to allow me freedom to redesign and rebuild this pump house using recycled material. I kept the carcass of the existing structure. I glued furring strips up using construction adhesive. This allowed me to nail the cedar siding and trim up against the cinder blocks. I designed the roof so that it could be removed, allowing the owner to access the pump. I went dumpster diving and managed to reclaim 75% of the materials used for this custom upgrade. This new pump house is beautiful but also serves a direct purpose. The well pump was freezing due to cold temperatures and lack of insulation. So I used 100% recycled styrofoam sheets to insulate the interior of the pump house, that otherwise would be sitting in a landfill. The cedar siding also provides a thick barrier between the pump and the outside elements. And it looks good. I was amazed at what I was able to use from the leftover trash of a newly built house. Dumpster Diving helps keep landfills cleaner and helps the environment. Dumpster Diving, I approve!