Yeoman Furniture2016

Dateline: 19 March 2016 AD

Rustic Yeoman Furniture

Way back in 2006 I posted an essay here titled Yeoman Furniture & My New Wood Box, in which I defined what yeoman furniture is. Then, in 2007, there was Yeoman Furniture Part 2.  Then in 2009, I posted pictures of a freestanding yeoman cabinet I made for our bathroom. Here are a couple pictures of that piece...

I haven't written about yeoman furniture here since 2009 because I haven't made any more. It isn't that I don't want to make any more yeoman furniture.  The problem is that I don't have the space to do much of anything in the way of serious woodworking any more. My small workshop is piled high and tight with Planet Whizbang inventory, and part of our house is too (it's becoming a real problem).

But day before yesterday I decided I had to take the time to make a piece of yeoman furniture, and that rustic yeoman bench in the photo at the top of this page was the result. 

My objective was to make a bench that was a little higher than a stool and a little lower than a standard chair. It will serve as a place just outside the door of our house for me to sit and put my boots on (or take them off). I used a piece of 33" long poplar mulch log for the top and some well seasoned pieces of fallen maple branches for the legs.

I didn't want to spend a lot of time on the project. Two hours was my objective. It ended up taking three. But I still have wood chips all over my driveway and lawn that need to be cleaned up.

I made a stool much like that when I was a teenager. It was in my parent's house for a lot of years. I also made a couple of nice bentwood chairs using saplings harvested from the edge of the woods. I had a LOT of energy back then. Now I have LIMITED energy. I had to sit in my recliner for awhile to recover after I made that stool (and I almost fell asleep).

There was no internet when I was a teenager, no Facebook, no iPhones with instant messaging. I thank God that stuff wasn't around when I was a kid. I mean, really!

But if there was an internet when I was a kid, you can bet I would have been using it to figure out ways to sell the stuff I made. Like, for example, that yeoman rustic bench. Between all the free natural resources to be found in the woods, and the free marketing possibilities on the internet, all a kid on a rural homestead needs these days to make some money is imagination and initiative.

Fact is, I know a man who makes a living crafting rustic furniture. He sells it for big bucks. He even left a good job at FedEx to pursue his craft. He started out making simple furniture (but not as simple and rustic as my bench), and now he makes furniture that is really something else. You can check it out at this link: Abiding Branches in King Ferry.