I started out making patio furniture in 1997 using Redwood, you can visit www.redwoodpatio.com for more details.
I quickly discovered that I was spending a lot of my time sorting through the Redwood at the local lumberyards trying to select the best pieces for my furniture, and since I Iive in a remote area of Oregon I was traveling about 150 miles round trip, plus the cost of the wood compared to what I was selling it for wasn’t very profitable. All of this while maintaining a day job.
I decided to try and find a use for Western Juniper because it grows right around where I live and the ranchers don’t like it because it is encroaching on their grasslands and is classified as an invasive species. In fact, the Federal government has cost share programs with the ranchers to have it removed.
One day, somebody stopped by our small woodshop and they had a piece of furniture which they showed me. I asked what kind of wood it was and they said Western Juniper. I knew right then and there that I had my answer.
So, I started asking the local ranchers if they would let me go out and look for some Juniper that I could use at my shop. They were more than happy to let me do this. I soon realized that only about 1% or less of all the Western juniper had really nice character, like the pieces on my website.
My wife Anna wanted to contribute too, but she didn’t want to do the wood hunting and woodworking part so she started making Pine needle art out of the Ponderosa Pine needles. I collect the Pine needles for her when I’m out wood hunting and sometimes we go out together and collect them.
You can see her artistic talent on this website too. Our company name is still Redwood Bench & Table Co. and I still make patio furniture, but only out of Cedar. Thank-you for visiting with us.
Bruce and Anna
I make normal size juniper rockers too.