Bentwood furniture seems to tie the backyard in with the patio and home area. Bentwood pieces can include benches, planters, rockers and love seats. The Garden areas also benefit from bentwood garden art with the use of trellises, arbors and plant stands.
photo credit: Mike and Kelly Schellhouse
The Amish are on my property this week cutting hickory for their bentwood rockers they are so well known for in this area. They have been harvesting small amounts of Hickory wood on and off for about 15 years from the property.
The rockers have become a family tradition and each artist signs his rocker on the bottom and becomes known for his style. I have two handmade rockers with hickory that has been harvested off my property and used by the Amish to create furniture.
The Amish will be here two weeks collecting small hickory pieces no larger than four inches in diameter. As they collect and drag the branches off the hill they sort them for size then bundle them for transporting home.
Although the Amish use hickory and oak for their style of rocker, many use a softer wood like willow or pine. Basically if a branch can bend it can be used for furniture or garden art.
Harder wood such as hickory holds up better than the softer wood but with proper care all wood branches will work well indoors or out. The branches need to be dried and treated properly before the furniture is made.
I particularly like the look of bentwood on the patio. It brings nature a little closer to the home and seems to blend the two spaces into one.
The You Tube video below shows Jeffrey Dreisbach creating a unique piece of furniture from branches.
His work is more artistic than what the local Amish make in my area. But the idea of collecting wood and creating furniture and other useful home products is the same.
There is a fun side to harvesting wood and branches from the woods and creating a useful but rustic piece of furniture.
Over the next two weeks it will be a learning to watch the Amish harvest the wood they need and still not abuse the land. The way they trim the hickory trees keeps the trees usable for lumber and shade but still supplies them with branches needed for their wonderful bentwood rocking chairs.
Bentwood furniture may be a style that you would like to add to your patio, porch or backyard garden area.
For more information on the Amish rocker check out my article on The Gardeners Rake; Amish Tradition and Harvesting Hickory
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