Restruction.

More Progress on the Storage Bench.

samwessner — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:19:13 +0000

Some pics of the door frames being cut and put together.

Tyler doing something.

Teach your children well.

samwessner — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:08:58 +0000

This is a photo of my dad playing Pedal Steel with his band ‘Morninglory’ in the 70′s. After seeing this picture I asked my dad if he still had that pedal steel?

“Yes.”

After 30 minutes of finding the guitar in the back closet and connecting all the pedal stems she was plugged into the old Fender Princeton Reverb amp ready to go.

Although the strings haven’t been changed in 25 years, the Pedal Steel sounded great. Me, my brother-in law Joe and my dad enjoyed hearing the same songs we always play with the new warmth of the Fender.

The 38′ Gibson and the steel sounded great together.

74 CB360t gets a face lift.

samwessner — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:16:16 +0000

I got this 1974 Honda CB360 Cafe Racer when we moved down to Tennessee. About 2 months ago I brought the bike in for a tune up and later (1 minute later and 4 blocks down the road) I found out that the mechanic crashed it while test riding it. It was pretty surreal to see the guy you just talked to lying on the ground and your motorcycle on its side. Luckily, he only broke is wrist.

Long story short, the front fork was bent like a banana and the paint job was pretty dinged up. Below is the returned product from the shop. Who doesn’t want a black bike?

Industrial Metal Cabinet

samwessner — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:46:20 +0000

Tyler and I decided to go to the salvage yard and pick up pretty much anything that was metal and that we thought we could strip the paint off of. This is one of the items we found. Originally, it was painted brown and after we discovered that the stripper was not cutting through the four layers of paint it had, I took the drill and put a metal brush bit on it and proceeded to strip the remainder of the paint. The brushed finish kinda makes it look a bit like something out of a Discovery Channel show about Monster Garages or something but I think it is growing on me.

We finished it with bowling alley wax.

Bauhaus Woodworking Chicago

samwessner — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:01:40 +0000

Last spring I enrolled in the Bauhaus School of Woodworking in Chicago. My class would be 3 hours long every Wednesday for about 3 months. I would commute into the ghetto and enter into an unusual warehouse where I would be greeted by, what looked like, lost, bearded fishermen who mistook the Chicago River for the New England coast. They must have concluded that there were no fish to catch and decided to build minimalist German furniture instead.

Whoever they are, They created a Gem in the middle of an otherwise dismal Roger’s Park neighborhood.

I was hoping that one of these lost fishermen would be instructing me but, to my surprise, my instructor was Jermaine.

Jermaine sweat more than anyone I have ever met, and once when I asked why he didn’t take off his Cowhide Indiana Pacers leather Jacket, he responded, “why would someone want to take off a jacket like this?”

I said, “ok”.

Although the experience was not what I expected , I would never trade in those Wednesday nights at Bauhaus. Jermaine told me, ” Let’s not get caught up on all that German shit, and lines and whatnot and let’s just build Shit”. I don’t quite think he fit in with the whole philosophy of the workshop, but I don’t think he really cared either.

I said, “ok”.

So we started my first real piece of Furniture. Hopefully it will be done soon. I had to take it, half built, down to Nashville.

Final product….coming soon.

-Top piece of the storage bench.-3 Cut planks of Walnut, biscuit joined, planed and glued.

Dixie Credenza Rehab.

samwessner — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:06:57 +0000

Stefanie and I found this Mid-Century credenza from an thrift store in Chicago a couple months before our move to Nashville. The majority of the rehab work was sanding and stripping about 50 years of old lacquer and grime. Once that was done, I had to mix a few different stains to see how the wood would take them. In the end, after installing the screens and re-lacquering the newly stained and painted wood, I think it turned into a cleaner more modern storage unit.

After I stripped and Sanded all the old lacquer off the Credenza.

The first of many stain combinations used.

Finished Product in our Chicago Apartment.

I covered the door with standard Screen coverings.

Chemistry Lab Lamp

samwessner — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:55:47 +0000

All the parts finally came in and after sitting, constructed, in the shed for a couple weeks, Tyler and I wired it up. Turned out pretty cool.

A fisher Burette Clamp.

The Destruction of things to make more things…..that I like.

samwessner — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:34:29 +0000

Stefanie and I moved to Nashville about 3 months ago, and to be honest, didn’t really have a clear thought on what the experience would entail. I just quit my job of 2 years in Chicago, and Stef was seeking an internship opportunity in Urban Planning in hopes of pursuing Grad school next fall. Nashville is our 2009-2010.

Although at times I feel very scatter-brained on what my future holds, I know I want to be owning and operating some form of social gathering place. Whether that is a cafe, bar, coffee shop….etc, I don’t quite know. I do know, that, in recent months I have had a more clear picture of what that might look like. So, the process starts.

For me, this year in Nashville means being near my close friends, trying to spark as much creativity and gain as much knowledge for the next step in my life.

Restruction is a space to show you some of the things that I am creating and thinking about. I hope you enjoy.

-S