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Stone's Wood and Metal Creations, Larsen, WI (2026)

08/09/2025

Recently completed a pseudo-restoration of this vintage water pump. I call it a pseudo-restoration because I didn't try to get it back to truly original condition but wanted to get it cleaned up and repaired to look a bit better, while still retaining a bit of it's aging from the last 100 years.

My wife wanted an old water pump for a lawn decoration, so we found this one FB marketplace. The guy who had it is probably in his 80s--his son had listed it on FB--and he lived a bit north of Princeton. I drove down on a Saturday morning to meet him at his house. He was such an incredibly nice guy and he offered to show me around. He had several sheds and a garage absolutely full of fantastic vintage stuff, including five classic cars, one of which was a '57 Belaire. He also had about 80 vintage pedal cars. His place would be an incredible location for "American Pickers." More importantly, though, he was such a nice, interesting guy--I could have spent hours talking to him and looking around his place. Getting to meet people like him is one of the great aspects of hunting for vintage items.

01/01/2025

One of the great joys of woodworking and welding as a hobby is sharing the products of my work with others. Sometimes, it’s just showing my work to others, sometimes it is selling a piece to someone (particularly if that person is then giving it as a gift), but the best is when I can give the gifts personally. As children, we’re taught “it’s better to give than receive,” but I don’t think any child truly grasps--or agrees with—that idea. As adults—particularly with our own families—you feel the true joy of giving.
This year I had the joy of making and giving gifts to several important people in my life.
For my wife, a cross made from horseshoes. In full transparency, this wasn’t my own idea. She came home from a craft fair and had seen a cross made from horseshoes. The design she saw wasn’t terribly creative, but she liked the general idea. I try to make her something for Christmas every year and didn’t yet have an idea for this year, so her request was very timely. We looked on-line together until we found a design she liked. Then, I got to work on it and told her she had to act surprised on Christmas. I love this design, as it also incorporates the fish symbol often associated with Jesus.
For our son and our new son-in-law, valets made from a bourbon barrel. My daughter had suggested some type of valet as a gift from us to her husband, as he needed a place to keep his new wedding ring. This design was an original idea and despite a seemingly simple concept, the woodworking to get the geometry for the mitered corners was pretty challenging, as the sides are made from barrel staves that are somewhat irregular curves and not a standard thickness or width. The bottom is also made from staves that were planed flat. The inside of the bottom is lined with bridle leather and is monogrammed. Thanks to Tailored Hide in Neenah for the leather work.
For our nieces, small bowls to keep` rings and jewelry. I forgot to take pictures of the bowls I sent them, but they are very similar to the one pictured, which I turned for my wife last year. They are made from butternut wood, which has the beautiful red coloring in the grain, making each piece unique.
Christmas ornaments this year are also turned from butternut.
In case this lengthy post doesn’t give it away, I find as much joy in conceiving, making and giving these things as I could get from receiving a gift.

09/04/2024

As a wedding gift for our daughter and new son-in-law, I made them a headboard for their new home. They will make their life together running a dairy farm and will live in an old farmhouse, so a barn door-style design seemed fitting.
The headboard is made from white oak and finished with a satin finish polyurethane.

11/11/2023

For Sale:
Whiskey Barrel Coffee Table
A beautiful combination of rustic and elegance in a high-quality piece of furniture that will compliment your living room, family room, den or man-cave.
The barrel is from Heaven Hills Distillery in Kentucky.
The base is made from a reclaimed oak barn beam.
The top is made from white oak, and is a bread-board style to create a more elegant and finished appearance.
The entire piece is finished with multiple coats of semi-gloss polyurethane finish to ensure a durable and beautiful appearance.
Dimensions: 39"L x 29"W x 18"H

$575

07/11/2023

This is a floor lamp I just completed. It is a reproduction of a vintage tripod like a surveyor or photographer might have used years ago.
I've always admired the vintage tripods, particularly the functionality of them and the way wood and metal accents work together. They strike me as having a very subtle element of elegance and class.
This piece is made from cherry wood, with a satin urethane finish. I chose satin because anything glossier would counter the desired utilitarian look.
All of the hardware is solid brass. The screws, thumbnuts and brass chain I was able to find in a few hardware stores. I couldn't find the plates for the leg guides and height adjusters, so I made those from brass stock. This was my first time working with brass and, although the pieces I had to make were pretty straight-forward, there was still a learning curve for me to get the dimensions and bend radius right. The neck that connects the lamp fixture is made from a piece of brass tube. None of the stock brass has a protective finish on it and I used a wire wheel brush to remove the clear finish from the store-bought pieces to allow everything to tarnish over time, which will create an aged patina.
This lamp will help fill the corner in my office that has needed something with a bit of vertical presence to make it look complete.

12/30/2022

I try every year to make a Christmas gift for my wife. This is the 2022 edition.
I had previously seen these chairs that convert to step stools and thought it would be fun to make one, but never gave it serious thought. Then, this past fall we were in an Amish furniture store and my wife saw one. She commented how she thought it was really cool. My response to her was “I don’t know where we’d put it or if we’d use it” while my inside voice said “Excellent—there’s my idea for this year. Now I need to get to work in the shop to have it done in time.”
I’m fortunate I had a good bit of lead time, as it was a tedious process to create two identical sides for the chair and get all of the angles correct to keep both sides aligned and convert smoothly
The chair is made from hickory with satin polyurethane finish. One long piano hinge keeps it aligned when it tips up to convert, and a pair of trunk latches hold it securely together when functioning as a seat.

10/07/2022

Bench made from a late-1930’s Ford pickup tailgate.

The frame is welded from 1” x 2” rectangular tubing, with cross pieces from 1” square tubing. I decided on rectangular tubing for the frame because the dimension better suited the scale of the tailgate, and it’s a bit more interesting than plain square. I wanted the frame to be complementary to the tailgate and seat, but not take any attention from them.

As with all projects like this, the key is to embrace the piece for what it is. That said, I did have to replace the entire bottom edge of the tailgate because it was completely rusted/rotted, which required welding on a new steel tube for the entire width. I stripped most of the paint (including all of the most recent, very poor paint job) from the tailgate, but left some traces of the more original. It was once light green and once black. Beyond that, I left the tailgate as is. That did present a substantial challenge, however, because it is not even close to square, so getting it to line up with the square frame was a challenge.

The seat mimics the typical floor of a pickup bed from that period, although I opted for hickory instead of the more traditional oak. The old beds would sometimes have aluminum strips dividing the individual boards, but that would have been uncomfortable to sit on, so I beveled the edges of each board to create that same type of separation. Orienting the wood strips front-to-back instead of side-to-side give the right geometry relative to the tailgate, and stainless-steel carriage bolts complete the effect. The sweeping curve shape of the arms recalls the shape of the fenders that would have been typical of this time period. The top corners of the tailgate are secured by clevis pins, again in the spirit of the original truck design.

The tailgate itself is sprayed with Matte Clear Rustoleum to make it weather resistant and give a clean surface. Four coats of semi-gloss spar urethane give the wood a beautiful, durable finish, and the metal frame is sprayed with Gun Metal Gray Rustoleum.

04/01/2022

Here's my latest project, which I just completed last night.

This may be the most refined piece I've made in 30 years of woodworking. It's made from solid walnut, except the drawer boxes, which are oak. The top is a mitered construction that eliminates any visible end-grain and creates the very cool pattern. Construction of the frame is mortise-and-tenon, and drawers are made using a couple different types of dovetail joints. This was my first time doing dovetails and I love the way they look, particularly with the contrast between the walnut and oak.

07/28/2021

Just delivered a custom TV console to a customer. This was a fun change of pace from the work I've been doing. The customer had a mental picture of what they wanted--we just had to get it onto paper, and then made from wood and metal. After a couple of meetings, we settled on a combination of industrial and country.
The wood is clear pine, finished with semi-gloss polyurethane. I used 1 1/4" thick on the top and bottom to give it a little extra heft and variety of scale, and did a bread board top to add some character. The middle section and shelf are from 3/4" stock.
The legs are welded from stock metal tube and flat stock, then painted with "Flat Soft Iron" Rustoleum.

06/01/2021

Just completed an end table made from a whiskey barrel from Buffalo Trace distillery. I’ve seen several tables of this basic design, but wanted to put my own touch on it by making a lap joint for the cross pieces on the legs. Lap joints aren’t normally terribly difficult, but as is frequently the case with barrels, this presented unusual challenges. Unlike making a normal lap joint, there is not a single surface on the staves that is flat or square—the face of the stave is curved top-to-bottom and side-to-side. Additionally, the edges of the stave are angled—not square—to the face. All of this means the joints must be hand-cut and hand-fit, which requires a couple hours of work. I do think the end result was worth the effort, though.
I have the other end of this barrel, from which I will make another table like this. I expect to sell that one (and perhaps this one). If you’re interested, let me know.

04/14/2021

Whiskey Barrel Bar Stools
(These are now sold. Please contact me if you are interested in some)
Just completed a pair of bar stools made from Maker's Mark whiskey barrels.
The seats are made from the barrel head--both with very clear distiller's stamps from Maker's Mark. The legs are made from staves, and the metal footrest is welded 3/8" steel rod.
All of the wood is finished with semi-gloss polyurethane and the metal/hardware is sprayed with enamel paint.
They are standard bar-height stools (29").

02/25/2021

Whiskey barrel cabinet delivered this evening to a customer in Winneconne. This one has a very nice, clear distiller's stamp from Jack Daniels.
This was a gift for the buyer's husband and he was there for delivery. One of the best parts of doing these is seeing the reactions when they see their barrel for the first time.

Stone's Wood and Metal Creations

08/09/2025

01/01/2025

09/04/2024

11/11/2023

07/11/2023

12/30/2022

10/07/2022

04/01/2022

07/28/2021

06/01/2021

04/14/2021

02/25/2021

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