I began J.C. Woodworking twelve years ago as a furniture maker. For a time, I stopped building furniture and focused on the structures and materials aspect of this company. However, recently, I realized that something was missing and it was the creative energy I loved while creating one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture. I make each and every piece by myself and by hand. All of the pieces are made with antique (at least 100 years old) wood reclaimed from barns and farmhouses that have either fallen or are about to be destroyed. Although the furniture itself is not old, the method used to build it, as well as the materials used, are antique! I have a passion for history and an enormous appreciation for the craftsmanship and hard work our forefathers put into every aspect of their lives.
Farm tables are our most popular pieces of furniture. Each table is hand-made with mortise and tenon joints and secured with hand made wooden pegs (called trenails or “tree-nails” in the 1700-1800’s). The tabletops are made from antique flooring, barn doors or grainery boards and the legs are made from barn beams. The tops are either hand-planed or left in the rough and even the finishes are antique. I use only finishes which were available 100 years ago, such as shellac, tung oil or beeswax. Due to the nature of antique lumber, the texture and patina of every piece is different, making every piece a unique original! I am proud to say that to date, my pieces have been featured in Bucks County Living, Philadelphia Magazine, The New Yorker and Country Living.
I also build what I call my “free pieces” such as unique cupboards and standing closets. I call these my “free” pieces because these are the pieces I get especially creative with. I usually don’t know what the piece will evolve into from day to day and I have found these pieces to be some of my best works. Like my tables, this furniture is also made only from antique materials. The wood, hardware and nails are all reclaimed from homes, barns or antique pieces of furniture.
I mark each piece of furniture with my maker’s mark which is a carved arrow and a stamp of my age at the time the piece was built. I also put a piece of parchment paper on the back or bottom of each piece which tells the story of how I was inspired to build that particular piece, where the wood came from, how it was built and how it was finished. I then burn the edges of the parchment, attach it with antique tacks and shellac it so it looks as old as the piece itself looks.
The pieces below are all sold, but are included as a sampling of some of my work. If you are interested in ordering a JCW piece, please contact us.
For over 150 years, the boards used to build this table were in the attic of an old farmhouse. Part of the uniqueness of J.C. Woodworking farm tables is the history of the boards. The wear on these boards was created through years of use. As you sit at this table, try to imagine that more than one century ago, a farmer pulled a 6-board pine chest across the floor, causing the marks that you see today. Or perhaps it was a fallen farm tool that created the mark in front of you. It is hard to conceive of how many people walked across these boards to create the wear that makes our tables so special.
This piece began when a friend stopped by with a brass pump he found at a flea market. In that instant, I didn’t know what I would do with it but I knew I had to somehow incorporate it into a piece. This cupboard is one of those pieces that created itself. From day to day my picture of the final piece was different. I started by making the base of the cupboard using a barn door reclaimed from an early 1800’s barn in Western Pa. When the base was completed, I added the back and the shelves and then began to turn it into a working sink. After I attached the pump and found the enamel bowl, I found the red brass spout in the basement of my own farm house. The trips to flea markets and plumbing stores to find the proper hosing to make the sink actually work were many. Then, finally, I found the jar to hold water in the base of the cupboard. Once the sink was working, I began to add my final touches. I made doors for the top and then added the trim and the accessories such as the mirror and iron hook which I gathered from farms throughout Bucks County Pennsylvania. The top doors are finished with a mustard milk paint rub through and the barn door has its’ original paint and hardware. The back, sides, shelves and top doors are made from grainery wood dating to the mid 1800’s and are finished with tung oil. As I stood in front of the cupboard, I imagined myself a farmer coming in from the fields after a long day to clean up before supper. As with most of my pieces, I was taken back to a simpler, less hurried time when I was building this cupboard. It is my hope that each time you wash in this sink or look in the mirror, you are taken back to that time as well.
(as featured in Country Living)
This table was inspired by the correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams during the last years of their lives’. The lid is made from one 21¾” white pine boards which was reclaimed from an attic partition wall in Western Pennsylvania. The back and aprons were made from pine flooring and the legs were cut from barn beams. The scroll work was done by tracing a clock makers pattern that I purchased at auction. The hinges came off of a door from a log cabin in Lehigh County, Pa. which dated to the late 1800’s and the storage shelves were made using antique cheese boxes which I then trimmed with white pine attic flooring. The cubby hole is furnished with a piece of antique rug to add color and the writing utensils are placed up front on what was once part of a fluted column that surrounded a stately fireplace. The book ledge was made using the handle to a hand made broom that I found in an outbuilding. Although these pieces only recently came together to make the desk you now see, they have already seen much of our American past. I take great pride finding just the right pieces to incorporate into my furniture and hope that you appreciate the details of each piece of wood used to craft this table.
I received the body of this cupboard from Cy Hyde — an herb farmer in New Jersey. It was a beautiful piece dating to the early 1800’s. This cupboard was one of the only pieces that survived a house fire in the early 1900’s. I built a door from a granary board that was reclaimed from a granary barn in Western Pennsylvania. The trim on the top of the cupboard was removed from a farmhouse in York County, Pa. and the knobs were salvaged from an antique cupboard by the “hardware man” of Perkiomenville, PA. And once again, they are being used for their intended purpose! The finish is an 1800’s formula milk paint made in Bucks County, Pa. The body is a “slate” milk-paint rub through and the door is a “mustard” milk-paint rub through. Both are followed by a coat of beeswax. I like to think that the craftsman who made this cupboard so many years ago would be pleased to see that it will now have another lifetime!
The board used to build this tabletop is unique not only due to the age of the wood, but also to its’ rare width of 24″. This table began with this piece of mahogany found in a barn in Central Pa. The board was originally 2.5″ thick and six foot long, but was damaged, warped and covered with tar. This 45 inch length was all that was salvageable after I spent nearly a day hand planing the board to take out the twist. The legs are tapered from white pine barn beams and the aprons are cut from pine flooring. The base is built using mortise and tenon joinery and is the entire table is secured with hand made wooden pegs. The tabletop is finished with one coat of hot tung oil followed by a coat of hand rubbed beeswax. The base is finished with an “Oyster White” milk paint rub through followed by a coat of hot tung oil and a coat of hand rubbed wax.
The idea for this flip-top table began when I found the latch that locks the top. Without careful attention, one would not even know the table opens which allows for a place to hide valuables such as silver. The top is a single board of white pine that served as part of a bin in a grainery barn in Western Pa. dating to the mid 1800’s. The aprons are made from attic flooring and the legs are cut from white pine barn beams. You can still see where the nails once secured planks to its’ frame. The trim outlining the inside of the table and also used as batons on the tabletop was reclaimed from farm houses in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The three dividers on the inside of the table are removable so you have the option of 1,2,3 or 4 inside compartments. Even the hinges that allow the top to open are antique. Every J.C. Woodworking piece is a one-of-a-kind. I often think “if only it could talk”. The many pieces used to make this table have seen a great deal of our history and I hope that you enjoy this table as much as I have enjoyed creating it.
As I built this piece, I imagined sitting by candlelight, writing with ink and feather. The tabletop is made from a reclaimed piece of white pine nearly 200 years old. The batons on the end of the top are secured with hand made wooden pegs. The drawer in this table is hand built using colonial dove-tail joinery. The bottom is one solid piece of wood which is hand planed to a feathered edge, creating a floating panel. The drawer is made from pine, poplar and chestnut woods. The legs are tapered from barn beams and the aprons are cut from poplar flooring. The base is built using mortise and tenon joinery and is also secured with hand made wooden pegs. The wrought iron and the pegged oak spline on the front legs are to insure that weak areas would not crack over time.
For over 150 years, the white pine boards used to build this tabletop were in the attic of an old farmhouse in Western Pennsylvania. The boards in the top are secured to one another by three batons on the bottom which are all hand dove-tailed and are made from reclaimed black walnut. The sides of the base are hand planed planking reclaimed from a granary barn in Western Pennsylvania. The stretcher on the bottom is a front porch post from an 1880’s farmhouse in Bucks County Pa. The sides and stretcher are placed using mortise and tenon joinery and the base is secured with the wedges (soldiers) which are cut from antique oak. The top is secured to the base with hand made black walnut pegs which go through the top of the base sides and the batons on the tabletop. This table does not have a single piece of metal in it! What is especially unique about this table is that, because of its’ construction, it can be broken down and easily transported.
This bed was modeled after beds often put in lofts for the young boys who would be hired or “borrowed” during the busy harvesting season. The posts are turned out of a white oak barn beam reclaimed from a farm in Berks County, Pa. The framework is built using mortise and tenon joinery and is made from red oak that was recovered from a corn crib also from Berks County, Pa. The bottom slats are made from yellow pine siding from a farmhouse in Loganton, Pa. The bedding was purchased at auction in Milford Township, Bucks County from the Rush estate. The quilt was also purchased at auction in Bucks County, Pa. The finish on the bed is a “Mustard” milk paint rub through with a “Barn Red” milk paint rub through on the knobs. Each J.C. Woodworking piece is a one-of-a-kind which will never again be produced. The history of each board makes my pieces a unique part of American history. It is my hope that the child who finds himself in this bed feels the same simplicity and peace of days gone by that I felt as I built it.
(*pictures taken in workshop: please excuse the background)
As I built this piece, I imagined it attached to the back of a wagon traveling across the frontier. Space was limited when traveling, and this would serve not only as storage for silver and dishes, but can be easily and quickly unlocked and turned into a table.
The piece began with what is now the tabletop. The top is made with two white pine attic floor boards removed from a farmstead in Western Pa. Two through dovetailed batons secure the two boards to one another and will insure that the boards do not warp even though they are not attached to a base. The leg of the table is also made from white pine flooring and is attached to one of the batons with antique hinges that were reclaimed from a Bucks County farm, as were the hinges which attach the tabletop to the body of the cupboard. The cupboard body and shelves are secured with hand forged nails and are also made from antique white pine flooring boards. The bottom shelf of the cupboard is designed to hold the antique silverware that would have been available to these frontiersman. The leg is locked into place when the table is in upright position with an antique lock. The key to unlock the leg can be hung below the cupboard on an antique brass eyehook. It is my hope that you may have many morning cups of coffee at this table and begin the days with a sense of peace and simplicity that our forefathers enjoyed.
