Our locale.
Smith’s Woodcraft Specialty works with you to determine exactly what you want. We want the project to be enjoyable for both of us, and there is no project that can’t do. We are a lot like the village woodworker: Tell us what you want and we will work with you to get it right. We do not need a set of blueprints from you to start. We can begin with a simple picture, a sketch on an envelope, or just talking talking with you. As we progress, we can develop a set of detailed drawings so that we both understand each other and there are no questions.
In addition to striving for customer satisfaction, we are a company that strives to be a good steward of the environment. This is a never-ending process for us. The company was created in 1954, and we began with the goal of “being green” by keeping old furniture out of the land fills and bringing them back to life by restoring and refinishing them. Even the finishes we use on your project can run the full range from matching original finishes, spraying lacquers, to low VOC (volatile organic compound) water soluable finishes that are carefully handled to prevent any adverse contact with the environment while also best enhancing and protecting your project.
In the process of creature or restoring furniture, we still generate wood waste. However, to meet our goal of environment consciousness, the scraps from projects are not simply thrown away and sent to a landfill. All waste is sorted, recycled, composted, or reused in future furniture projects. The unusable scraps are used in our efficient, hot water heating system that keeps our shop at the right temperature for handling the materials of your projects during the Indiana winter months.
With any wood working project, the selection of the wood is very important. In order to make the project look its best, three areas have to be considered in order to choose the proper wood:
- Aesthetics: To make sure the color of the wood, and the pattern and figure of the grain all match.
- Wood strength: To make sure that the project can literally stand up under its own weight and won’t break during use.
- Decay resistance: To make sure your project lasts as long as possible, especially if outdoors.
Once these areas have been addressed, the selection of individual boards then becomes the next major step of the project. It is important to find the right board for the right spot. Proper board selection is a time consuming step that must be done carefully. It not only ensures a pleasure project, it also allowed for an efficient use of material, creating the least amount of waste possible. Hours can be spent color matching to make sure the shade of the project is uniform. Grain choices will also have a dramatic effect upon any project, turning an average piece into an eye-catching piece that is a pleasure to behold.
The wood we like to use is locally grown on private land. We have a significant number of customers who want us to use the wood from their back yard trees or from their grandparents’ woods on the homestead. Not only do we accept wood milled from local trees, but we have also recycled and salvaged wood from centuries-old mid-western barns and other buildings that have been slated for demolition that would have otherwise been burnt and buried.