More To The Story With Staley: wooden furniture

Dave meets a Signal Mountain craftsman who turns scrap wood into treasures

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN, Tennessee (WDEF) – It’s a little slice of Americana up on Signal Mountain. And there’s wood all over the place. Logs, trees…..more than one can shake a stick at. No “pun” intended.

It all makes sense. Because it’s a small lumber mill.

But what Rudd Montgomery does is pretty big. And unique. He takes this wood…..which for the most part, nobody else wants…….and builds all types of products. Mainly furniture.

Rudd started his business……his old friend Joe Stewart is the only one who helps him…….back in 1997.

Accumulating old wood. Some he pays for. Most is for free.

“Lots of guys in this neighborhood are guys who do tree work. I started following them around. Working with them. That’s how it started.”

And once he has his hands on the wood, Rudd builds really nice things.. Some big things. Like a cedar porch swing.

Some small things. Like a charcuterie board. And some things in the middle. This will be a mirror.

He says he loves the process from start to finish. Always learning.

“I’m proud of the fact that all of the wood we use we mill up right here. We salvage it. Then we air dry it and kiln dry it. And then build the piece of furniture.”

You want it……Rudd and Joe will build it. Sometimes for a hundred bucks. Some items for just under 10-thousand dollars.

Walnut, pine, cedar, cherry. The man has you covered. From this…….to this.

Rudd says it can be physically and mentally taxing. But he’d have it no other way.

“What else do you do? We enjoy it immensely. I can’t think of anything else I’d want to do. I guess I’ll do it until they put me under.”

Rudd’s website is Push Hard Lumber.com. A place where discarded wood……..comes to life.
From Signal Mountain, Dave Staley, News 12.