How to Build a Bench from Old Wood

Craftsmanship meets upcycling. Old wood renovated. These beams are almost 100 years old and should be burned. The two furniture designers Simon Köder and Tobias Thiemich are building a wooden bench from them. We all have something, right? This one looks pretty solid and pretty clean, doesn't it? Yeah, but that's pretty cool with all the scars he's already got. Yeah, that's great. The oak beams have a long history. Every nail, every screw and every wire had a function in the former village house. Over the decades, the wood has changed a lot due to the weathering and the weight of the walls and roof. It's crooked and crooked. But that's exactly what the two carpenters love. We got the beams from an old half-timbered house. That was torn down, unfortunately. You can see that it's been damaged a little by the tear. But for us, they're perfect. They have the perfect length. So we can do this perfectly with the bench we want to make now. They want to build the bench out of three beams. A pretty massive piece of furniture with a length of 2.20 meters. How much distance do you want in between? Between one and two centimeters. In total, we have 45 meters. It's always perfect. Yes, it is. This is actually experienced sustainability. Something that has actually served its life cycle. It has already gone through its use and its benefits. And it's no longer there. Simply to make sense of the whole thing again. To then use the same material without cutting down a tree again. To give the whole thing a new chance. To be useful for someone for the next 50, 100 years. In the next step of the work, the carpenter removes all the metal. The half-timbered beams are spiked with nails and clamps. The clamps, called crampons, were there so that the straw mats could be attached. The straw serves as a carrier for the cleaning in the half-timbered construction. The furniture makers will later cool the bench, i.e. inflame and burn it. We always look, when we have such a place, if we can find a nail. Not so far. So far, Tobi has done his job well. On the one hand, it is good when we remove so much dirt before we cool it. So before we go on with fire. So that everything burns evenly. There's another one. And on the other hand, we always see one or the other nail. And then we catch it before we go to the beam with fire. Yes, where do we cut it off? Where do we cut it off? I would look that we ... I don't know, I think two meters is a bit tight. Because of the feet, because they are so massive. Let's go to 2.20. No, hold on, hold on. Look from up there. I think we have to take the other side. It's going to be crooked back there. It's making a real wave back there. We don't want a crooked beam. I see a straight piece on this side and on this side. Up to about the second beam. And then I see how it falls off a bit. How it falls off a bit to the top right. And then we just take the piece away. Because this is tending to be straighter. And in terms of optics, they are not very different. I would rather say that this part has more character. Also because of this incision here. And that's why we take the back part away. Tobias saws the old beams to the same length. He does this with the chain saw. So he can feel exactly whether a nail is still hidden inside the beam. Next, Simon prepares the feet for the bench. They are made of massive black steel. The black layer on the steel, called tinder, is created by the hot rolling. Simon wants to give the feet an individual look. He wants to rust them. First, he cleans the feet with alcohol. This way he can free them from dirt and fat. He rubs the steel with a fine sanding pad. This opens the pores of the surface. This is important, so that the steel can rust. To make it quick, Simon now sprays a special mixture. 250 ml of vinegar on 750 ml of water. We use water and vinegar. This mixture then attacks the surface and causes it to oxidize. It's always a game of luck when we rust something. Of course, we have some experience. We know what the mixing conditions should be and how long it takes. But there are so many factors. What is the humidity? What is the sun's radiation? The result is always a surprise. Now it's time to wait. Rust takes time. While the steel feet rust, it gets hot. The furniture designer uses a gas burner to cool the wood. With the flame, Simon goes slowly and carefully over the beams. The fire is several hundred degrees hot. Cooling has not only visual but also practical reasons. It has quite positive properties, this cooling. It is also used in house facades. The surface condenses and contracts. So it is no longer an organic material. It is a dead material, this coal. It is no longer interesting for mushrooms or pests. They don't feel like it. And because of this contraction, the surface condenses so much that it is very resistant. This is an old-fashioned craftsmanship from Japan. Japanese craftsmen make the wood more durable. We do it for a different reason. Because we say, through this burning and this contraction of these wood fibers, the whole masonry gets a completely different character. It will all get softer afterwards. Cracks or impacts will be accentuated afterwards. We then have a really characterful black, deep black beam that we use for our bench. What we want to create is this story. Here you can clearly see how the cubes form. This means that we have achieved that it is not only flamed at the top, that it is not only black, but that we are already one or two millimeters in the wood. Because we then go on with the brush, with the large brush, we have material here that we can brush off. Then the beam is still black. If I only flame here, then the beam will be natural colors again. I need these deep blacks and also these color particles, these pigments in the wood, so that it becomes nice and black afterwards, even without color. The uniform combustion is important when cooling. The cells pull together, and the longer I am at a place that is too deep, the heat gets into the wood. If I only do this at one point, I have the danger that it will tear, especially with more sensitive workpieces like the beam. There is a kind of cell collapse, that the cells pull together too quickly, too strongly, and then it tears. That's why we try to do it as evenly as possible, to have an intact workpiece. To cool three beams, the carpenter needs several hours. Overnight, the steel feet are heavily oxidized. They are rusted in many places, and the reddish color begins to shimmer through. The carpenters are satisfied with the result, but not yet. The feet may continue to rust. Through cooling, ashes and coal dust have formed on the outer layer of the wood. Simon roughly grinds off the dead material. This allows him to see whether the cooling has worked. A dirty job, which the furniture makers always do in the open air. What you can already see here, is that this wood has an incredibly homogeneous and original look. It is already quite soft. With an organic piece of wood that is not cooled, you would have to break the edges and grind, but that makes the fire. The entire fiber structure is clearly visible through the brushing. We can see the wood fibers everywhere. The history of the wood has now been uncovered. We can still see the individual notches here. All the branches have now pulled together. They have become much more characterful. The great thing is that you can still see the cracks and notches on the old wood beams. They will be sealed in black by the oil. Then you have a beam that is already an artwork in itself. It is very pleasant to touch. Now Tobias brushes the notches and holes finely with his hand. He does this with a brass brush. With this he also gets into the smallest cracks and depressions. Because of the cooling, the beams are now black. But here and there you can still see the original color of the oak. This is quite normal. Because by brushing, the carpenter also removes too much of the cooled wood. To be able to blacken these places again, Tobias has to oil. Tobias processes the beams with a natural-based care oil. Piece by piece. Oiling is a thing that a machine or a mechanism can never do automatically. A person always has to apply it with a rag in their hand. And see where the oil goes, where it is still missing, where it still has to go. It is important to massage the oil in nicely. It's like creaming on the skin. You don't just put the cream on your arm or face and let it soak in. You massage it in nicely. It's the same with wood. And that's just manual work, and it takes time and patience. By oiling, the wood not only becomes shinier and more beautiful, it also becomes more resistant to water and dirt. By doing this, I color all the corners that have been brushed too much. Or all the holes where you didn't get to with the cooling. This is how everything is still pressed and nicely blackened. After oiling, the beams can rest for a while. The oil must slowly penetrate all the wood fibers. The steel feet are now rusted. But not completely. The rust has left the steel a wild pattern. To connect the feet to the beams, Simon drills holes. In these, he screws muffins. This way, he can screw the bench apart again later, without damaging the wood. Wood beams and steel feet now get a finish of natural spray wax. This serves to evenly seal the surface. This way, you don't get a black pants floor when you sit on the bench. After three days, the big moment comes. In the last step, the carpenters connect the cooled half-timber beams with the rusted steel feet. It's like when the engine comes in during car assembly. It's like a wedding. All parts join together. All parts had their different steps. The feet were rusted outside. We cooled, brushed and oiled the wood. Everything is independent of each other. Now everything is joined together. It's beautiful. For me, there's nothing more beautiful. Young carpenters turn old beams into a new bench. The finished piece of furniture is a unique piece of history. Simon Köder and Tobias Timmich create new furniture through upcycling. Old wood gets new life for many years to come. You can inherit our products. They are heritage. Nothing happens to them. The tree grows for 100, 150, 200 years. We give it a task that will last at least as long. It's stable enough. With 100 kilos, it will be able to carry some more loads. What inspired you the most about this craft? Write it in the comments. And of course we are happy about your channel subscription.