Artists Shape Trees Into Furniture And Art · because there’s strong demand for wood shavings for...

1-800-834-9665 • editor@farmshow.com • www.farmshow.com• vol. 32, no. 4 • FARM SHOW • 9

Money-Making Ideas To Boost Farm IncomeArtists Shape Trees Into Furniture And Art

Peter “Pook” Cook and Becky Northeygrow chairs, mirror frames and people-shaped trees on a couple of acres near theirQueensland, Australia, home. The artistscreated their own techniques of shapingtrees which remain planted in the groundbut can be harvested later. Their art is calledtree shaping.

Cook, a jeweler, decided to grow a chairin 1987 after being inspired by three fig treestwisting together. He later teamed up withNorthey and they’ve been at it ever since.

They have about 70 pieces in variousstages of growth. They work mostly withwild plum trees, guiding the growth alongwire-shaped paths. The couple is also learn-ing how to work with other trees, includingblack cherry, red bud, pear, willow, dog-wood, hazel and oak.

Their art can take as little as a year forneckpieces to 8 to 10 years for bigger piecessuch as chairs or people trees. They senteight pieces to the World Expo 2005 in Ja-pan, and were told their work had a pro-found effect on the bonsai community there.

While some pieces are grown to remainplanted and alive, others can be harvestedand enjoyed indoors, like the mirror framethe couple planted in 1998. It’s Northey’sfavorite piece, with the root system serving

as the mirror’s stand.Cook’s favorites are the people trees. “On

the day that I first conceived the idea, it wasthis flash of inspiration,” he recalls. “I drewit full height on the kitchen door with a large,indelible ink pen. The excitement of that firstrealization that I could grow a man is onethat stills echoes through to today.”

Many inspirations come from the naturalbeauty of the land where they live amid clearmountain streams and rugged cliffs. They lettheir art grow naturally, but must provide pro-tection from kangaroos and wallabies that liketo eat the trees, as well as Goanna lizards thatcan inadvertently break branches while look-ing for bird eggs.

Cook and Northey are writing a book abouttheir technique as well as developing con-sultation services for others interested in treeshaping.

“Most people seem to think tree shapingtakes too long,” the couple says. “That’s nothow it should be viewed, rather think of itlike this: The time you spend shaping a treeis captured by the tree, then amplified. A hun-dred years from now people will be able tosee the tree shaping that you did today.”

Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Peter“Pook” Cook and Becky Northeypooktre@ihug.com.au; www.pooktre.com).

Business Is Booming ForDoors, Windows, Etc.

Looking for old wood flooring? How abouta stained glass arched window or a greenglass doorknob? You can find those itemsand much more at the 140,000 sq. ft. Dis-covery Architectural Antiques store inGonzales, Texas.

Brad and Suzanne Kittel started the busi-ness a decade ago after running a success-ful real estate brokerage in Austin. Thecouple had also purchased and fixed up oldhomes for resale, and they recognized amarket.

“We could never find pieces or partswhen we needed them,” Suzanne says. Bythe time they moved to Gonzales, a smallertown to raise their son, they had a networkof salvage buyers throughout the country.

“A lot of perfectly wonderful houses aretorn down - a lot of times for parking lots,”Suzanne says. “The salvagers have to fightfor everything they get. Just a fraction ofthings that could be saved are saved.”

The Kittels started buying from the sal-vagers to fill up an old building they pur-chased. Now they have several show-rooms, eight warehouses and three yardsfilled with lumber, beams, doors, windows,lights, ceiling tin, hardware and anythingelse found in homes.

“Our most unusual items may be ourlarge collection of doorknobs and interest-ing architectural elements - like terra cottapieces from buildings,” Suzanne says.“Most of our customers are building newhouses. They want to have the old flooringor beams or stained glass. They like to addjust a touch of the old.”

Antique doors are one of the business’sbiggest selling items. “We have a mill tostrip, plug, fix and jamb them so they’reready to install,” she says. “They’re solidwood doors and have a lot more characterthan newer doors.”

Some customers own old houses andwant to replace missing hardware or door-knobs, so they send photos of what theyare looking for. The Kittels do some sell-

ing through their website or over the phone,but Suzanne says customers really shouldcome to the business to see everything that isavailable. While most customers are fromTexas, the Kittels have customers fromCanada to Mexico. The business saw a surgeof interest after it was shown briefly in a seg-ment of the television show, “This OldHouse.”

While there are many antique businessesthroughout the country, Suzanne notes theirsis a little different. “We’re just us. We’re notan antique mall. No consignments. No deal-ers. It’s just us.”

The business is open year round Tuesdaythrough Saturday from 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bradand Suzanne Kittel, Discovery ArchitecturalAntiques, 409 St. Francis, Gonzales, Texas78629 (ph 830 672-2428; bwk @ discoverys.net; www.discoverys.com).

Portable Wood Shaving Machine“Our new pto-powered shaving machineconverts logs as big as 22 in. in diameterand up to 8 ft. long into wood shavings foruse as livestock bedding. It has a lot ofcapacity and works fast,” says BernieRiopel, Concord, N.H., who’s the U.S. rep-resentative for the Canadian-built“Tremzac” wood shaving machine.

The pull-type rig measures 7 ft. 3 in. wideby 22 ft. long and 9 1/2 ft. high. The operatoruses a forklift to load logs in over the side. A24-in. wide, 48-in. long hydraulic-driven car-riage on top moves forward and backwardacross a planer that’s mounted on the floor.The planer, equipped with 24-in. long plan-ing knives, converts the logs into shavings.The shavings are discharged out the back bya conveyor, or by an optional blower that alsomounts on back. A 10-ft. hose, hooked up tothe blower, is used to direct the shavings intoa barn, truck, or storage shed, etc.

“It has a capacity of 15 cubic yards perhour which means it can convert a wholecontainer of logs into shavings in just 20minutes,” says Riopel. “It fills a big needbecause there’s strong demand for woodshavings for use as bedding. Dairy produc-ers are having a hard time finding sawdust,because most of the sawdust produced bysawmills is now being sold to pellet millsfor use in wood burning stoves. Commer-cial wood shavings are available, butthey’re expensive.”

Sells for $42,900. A larger 31-ft. long modelis also available that can produce up to 20cubic yards per hour. It sells for $46,900.

Available options include conveyor orblower and trailer.

Contact: FARM SHOW Followup,B.R. Distributor, P.O. Box 775, Concord,N.H. 03302 (ph 603 491-7671;brdistr@netzero.net).

Brad and Suzanne Kittel started up a suc-cessful business that supplies items sal-vaged from old homes. “Most of our cus-tomers are building new houses. They liketo add just a touch of the old,” they say.

An Australian couple created their own techniques for shaping trees as they grow.They can harvest the shaped trees later.

They work mostly with wild plum trees, guiding the growth along wire-shaped paths.

“It has a lot of capacity and works fast,” says Bernie Riopel about his pto-poweredshaving machine. It converts logs up to 22 in. dia. into wood shavings.