When I was a young kid, I spent a lot of time with my grandfather, Charles Edgar Young, in his woodworking shop drilling holes in scrap wood, cutting irregular shapes with his bandsaw, and turning useless things on his lathe. It was always a lot of fun, and through those good times, I developed a love for making things with wood. God blessed me a pretty good eye and good use of my hands, and I've always had a knack for making or building things. About 15 years ago, I became fascinated with rustic furniture after visiting an arts and craft show in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Soon after that trip, my wife, Kelly King Kelley, gave me a set of tenon cutters for Christmas, which act like giant pencil sharpeners that trim the ends of limbs, branches or logs to make them fit in another piece of wood. From there, I started trying my hand at making rustic furniture (mostly chairs) from various tree limbs and hardwoods. I eventually tried driftwood, which is plentiful in the Tennessee River. There is just something about making a chair out of limbs and logs floating in the River that I really enjoy. I'm really not sure what it is, but I like working with driftwood more than anything else I've ever tried. Over the last few years, I've made driftwood chairs and tables here and there for friends, famiy and charity auctions. But, it's usually been only when I had the time or energy. Then, a few weeks ago (March 2012), my 18 year old son Charlie came home one day and said he wanted to make some driftwood chairs to sell at First Fridays (arts and crafts show). Said he wanted to make some money for college. Needless to say, we were in my shop a few days later, making our first driftwood chair together. It was a really nice chair (see pic), but teaching him how to make a mortis and tenon joint was the special part. So here we are. Tennessee River Water Works (which he named). Hope you enjoy.
