Green Furniture?

Even in the most staid and conventional trade publications that arrive here there are articles with "green" in the title.  Most of them are in the market trends category:  "Consumers look for green products so position yourself accordingly."  The term lacks specifics, rigor, and consensus and allows for many angles and interpretations, but I believe we can claim it.  We don’t want to use up our material, abuse the people we work with and for, waste any gifts, poison our ground, or take more than we give.  This page addresses the specifics of what we do to sustain this business, and this craft, into the future. It is a matter of health, and of principle.

Having used every type of lumber since I bought my first 2 x 4 in 1970, and having worked as a saw hand in the woods and mill, I have seen the quality of lumber and timber decline drastically in my working lifetime — not all that long in forest-time.  It is possible (although not so profitable in quarterly-statement-time), to manage forestland so that a perpetual harvest of improving quality may be sustained.  This is the goal of the Forest Stewardship Council.  The cherry, maple, and mahogany we use come from forests that are certified to be well managed by the Forest Stewardship Council.  We in turn are chain-of-custody certified by the FSC and can tag our furniture built with certified wood with their logo.  Our commitment to forest stewardship is a cornerstone of this business.

Our products (durable investor goods) will last a long time — obsolescence is not planned or expected.  Our furniture will outlive many cycles of lesser consumer goods reducing the impacts of our shipping, packaging, and other activities that are difficult to reduce to zero.

Labor.  Green labor.  A fair and full accounting of people’s contribution falls in this realm of responsible behavior.  This business has obligations to its people that transcend the quarterly statement.  Mid-year and year-end we print a profit and loss statement and a balance sheet for everyone and have a meeting to explain the numbers, hear concerns, and pass out the bonus checks — if a satisfactory number has made it to the bottom.  We pay industry standard wages, plus we pay for bank holidays, vacations, sick leave, health insurance, and overtime after 37 hours.  River floats, afternoons off with kids, etc. are encouraged.

We produce wood scrap, shavings, and dust.  Some scrap is gathered by woodworkers, but most goes to fuel:  for heat, to fire clay pots, and cooking.  We heat the shop and house and fire the grill with wood scrap.  The dust and shavings go to compost and mulch.  Some we compost in the chicken house and in piles on site, some we give to others.

Wood scrap cut and stacked for kindling	Shavings to compost in eight weeks in the coop

Compost to vegetables

We are landscaping the place by building terraces on the contours  (We have stone, and I like the stonework — no precision, no sanding.), encouraging existing grass, shrubs and trees, and planting native and adaptive species.  The terraces stop erosion and hold the water and soil for the plants.  We also capture rainwater in tanks for the plants that need additional water.

This bed in a corner of the shop is watered from the tank

We recycle a portion of the paper, metals, cardboard, etc. and plan to do better.  But it takes a shed and bins to be thorough — still plans.

We rely on shipping: wood and supplies in and furniture and byproducts out.  Some of these trips are long.  Diesel fuel is burned — carbon released.  We don’t know what to do about this.

Crated chairs on their way to investors

Shipping requires packaging.  Packaging becomes trash.  We only know a little to do about this. We use narrow strips, produced as waste, from a dimensional mill to build the crates.  But this wood and the cardboard, wrap, foam, and screws must be disposed of by our patrons.

Our finish releases volatile organic compounds, VOC’s, into the atmosphere.  A hand rubbed oil finish requires solvent to take the resins into the wood, not much, but not zero.  (We do go to extra trouble and expense to use a low VOC formula made for California.)  The finish is stable and non-toxic when cured, but the vehicle (the solvent) must evaporate.  We have detailed mid-range plans for an enclosure with carbon filters and respirators so there will be no exposure and no discharge.  But these are still just plans, just talk.  There are several oil finishes advertised as "green" but they do not have zero discharge of solvents either, and our testing does not show them to withstand water as well as what we are using.  We will use them upon request.

I designed and we built these buildings on undeveloped land in 2000–2001.  We were awarded a Green Building Certificate from the city of Austin for several criteria including: energy efficient design and construction, site planning, orientation to sun and breeze, and low maintenance and sustainable materials.

The power company burns coal and natural gas so we can run our lights and motors.  We try to use minimal and efficient lighting and conditioning, to keep filters clean and machines maintained, and to buy the most efficient motors.  We pay for our electric cooperative’s green power initiative so they can invest in renewable sources — west Texas wind farms mostly.

Austin, Leslie, and I walk to work.



Austin on the path to the shop.