When a couple of co-workers from the unofficial beer club told the PalletPalooza Team that if we wanted to see some cool stuff made out of pallets then we needed to visit
One Well Brewing in
Portage, MI .
We were not disappointed!
It was really cool to see the beautiful pallet tables,
the pallet lined bar and pallet wood on the walls.
It had all of my decor favorites!
Reclaimed wood, some burlap here and there, chalkboards, and a board game wall.
We shared with co-owner
Chris O’Neill about
PalletPalooza™ and yeah! he said yes right away to being a host venue for displaying an entry.
Our Marketing intern Victor and myself stopped in for a second visit for a late lunch (we had grilled cheese sandwiches and they were the bomb dot com) and since we were working, had the hand-crafted Root Beer, which was also delicious. :)
We met the other co-owner
T.J. Waldofsky and got to know a little bit more about their use of pallets in the gorgeous and rustic Tap House. Here is our conversation:
__________________________________________
I
love all of the pallet projects you have at One Well Brewing. You have 8+
tables made from pallets, your bar is lined with pallet wood and I see pallets
being used on the walls and trim. Why did you choose to work with pallets?
T.J. We chose to work with pallets for a lot of reasons. First
and foremost, we decided that pallets would be a free way to incorporate wooden
elements in our tap house (we got all of the pallets for free). We wanted to
include a lot of natural wood characteristics at One Well, but we were on a
shoestring budget and wood can get expensive. Secondly, we really love and
embrace the idea of upcycling and repurposing materials. Most of the wood,
bricks and other elements in our tap house were reclaimed and repurposed. We
are all about eco-friendliness and sustainability - it is one of our core
values, so we decided that this would be a great way to embrace that. And
finally, we decided to use pallet wood because it looks awesome! Each piece of
wood has its own unique store and characteristics, and we strongly believe that
maps well with our story.
Do
you remember how many pallets you used? I am sure it took a lot pallets, and a
lot of effort taking them apart, where did you find them all?
We got the majority of our pallets from a local company
called Stafford-Smith. They put them out for the taking every few days, so we
would lurk and wait until they had a new batch. We found a few others around
the greater Kalamazoo area, but the bulk came from Stafford-Smith. It is hard
to estimate how many that we used because you do end up with some
breakage/waste/unusable pieces, but if I had to take a guess I'd imagine that
we probably used close to 50 when all was said and done.
All of
your pallet work is so smooth, I know from experience working with pallet that
that is a lot of work. Can you tell us a little bit about your process and how
you achieved such a glossy finish for the table tops?
Chris and our Head Cellerman, Tom Crookston, did most of the
skilled work (breaking down the pallets, grinding off the nails, building and
assembling the tables, sanding the surfaces, etc.) and my wife, Bella
Waldofsky, and I did a most of the clear coat work. The first step in making
them smooth was to grind out all of the nails at the surface and remove or
pound down any nails that were barely sticking out. This was a diligent process
that involved multiple people feeling all surfaces so that no sharp edge was
left exposed. After that, we used a hand belt sander to sand the surfaces.
After the table were assembled, we put about eight coats of polyurethane on
them. This process took a really long time, but it was the key part to ensure
that the tables were very smooth. After the first three or four coats the
splinters started to go away because they were thoroughly coated. After eight
coats you couldn't find a splinter at all. We probably put more coats of
polyurethane then needed, but we figured we should put more than required
because of the wear and tear they would see in a commercial restaurant setting.
The final step of the process was to coat the cracks on the top so beer and
liquid wouldn't get trapped between the wooden planks. This helped to protect the
wood from molding or rotting. Chris used a combination of wood glue and sawdust to accomplish a natural look that also protected the wood.
I
know I love pallets, all things created out of pallets. What kind of comments
do you get from your customers, are they loving the pallet look too?
Our customer absolutely love them! People stop by all of the
time and are inspired by the work. Some of them have been working with pallets
for awhile, and they appreciate our ideas. Others have never worked with pallet
wood and we have encouraged them to try. It is great seeing them come in with
photos of the work that they have done.
One
Well has been open for over a year and your pallet tables have seen a lot of action with rounds
of beer, hot plates of food, and lively board games on your game night, and I
don’t know, do people arm wrestle at breweries? Are you happy with how they are
holding up?
We opened for business on November 28, 2014, so we've been
at it for about a year and eight months. Crazy how time flies. Other than a few
minor sealant work on the tops at the beginning, they have held up really well!
They do see a lot of action - beer, hot plates, the occasional thumb wrestling
- but we haven't really noticed much wear on them.
As
a daughter of parents who had their own business, I know and appreciate what it
takes to start a business and the long hours and efforts that you put in. I
also know that creating things with pallets is a lot of work and you could just
order something off of the internet, or go buy new wood. Would you do it again?
Definitely we'd do it again! At this point we are a bit more
established so we don't really need to do it, but it is honestly very rewarding
and we/our customer appreciate the unique look and ideas that we've come up
with. That said, I would imagine that we might hire someone to help out the
next time around so our time is free to focus on running the business :)
And
lastly, do you have any advice for someone who is thinking about taking on an
ambitious project like this?
I'd suggest starting small and growing from there. there are
so many cool projects that you can do, but if you take on too much it might be
a bit daunting, especially if you've never done woodwork before. Oh, and have
fun with it!
____________________________________________
Cheers to T.J. and Chris and One Well Brewing for supporting Goodwill Industries of SW MI and our
new fundraiser PalletPalooza™!
__________________________________________________
Side note - Stafford-Smith in Kalamazoo is a pallet provider for PalletPalooza. A big thank you to them - looks like the community loves your pallets!
__________________________________________________
Weekend Warriors! This is the last weekend to make something out of recycled pallets and enter
PalletPalooza!
Have some fun, support a good cause, and you could win a cash prize!
Deadline is June 30th, 2016
