By Jolene Farley
FBT Sawmill and Lumber, Steen, is still buzzing along. Owner Erwin Bonestroo recently branched out into furniture making.
Bonestroo said they make almost anything. "If they bring in a picture and some measurements, we can make it."
The furniture is built solid, with an old, primitive look.
"We keep the saw marks in," he said. "We don’t do a perfect job, because that’s what they want. We’re trying to make a good quality product that looks old."
Bonestroo has taken his products to the Flea Market in Sioux Falls and will display his wares at a Children’s Hospital fund-raiser later this spring.
He is trying to grow his business slowly, because buying more equipment is expensive and he has a limited amount of wood.
Making furniture helps save on wood because it doesn’t take nearly the amount of wood as other products, such as pallet making, according to Bonestroo.
The sawmill business still gets many of its customers from Sioux County in Iowa because residents were used to having a sawmill in the area until recently, and they know what can be done with their wood.
Lumberyards sell wood but most simply don’t have the same products as sawmills.
For instance, excess branches trimmed off the trees in the Steen Park were milled at FBT Sawmill and made into a cross (to be used for Easter) for a church in Luverne.
The wood for the cross was "something you couldn’t buy," according to Erwin.
Salvaging and finding new uses for wood is a creative process. The brothers get ideas from the magazine "Country Sampler," and from other publications for their furniture.
"We see it, we make it. A lot of times we don’t even have the dimensions," Erwin said.
"I just went to the wood pile and whatever was there, I made something out of it," Erwin’s brother, Doug said. Doug works with Erwin on some of the projects.
The brothers make planters, curio cabinets, flower boxes, pie safes, tables and benches, to name a few items.
The company made a bar and some tables for a new restaurant opening in Sioux Falls that was decorating with the primitive look.
They found the massive ash logs for the top of the bar at an old farmsite in Iowa. The house and trees were being torn down so the brothers salvaged the wood from the trees.
They said basically nothing goes to waste in their business.
Even odd scraps of wood from the sawmill are saved because taxidermists mount fish or other animals on the pieces.
Bonestroo continues to search for more uses for the products created at FBT Sawmill.
