MR. ED, THE HORSE, OF COURSE

Name the Horse Contest has come to a close. The winner of a $50 Gift Certificate to Amish Workbench Furniture is Barbara Sumner of Portland who suggested Amish Apple Andy. Many good names were contributed to the entries. Hard to choose. The horse, who comes from Berlin, OH in Amish Country, pulls the velveteen lined, steel wheeled family carriage of the Ray Yoder, Jr. family. It was heated with a propane heater. The rear sports an orange fluorescent triangle, the front and sides have lights, providing safety at night along the unlit roads of Holmes County, OH. Amish Workbench Furniture buys gliders from “Junior”. The most comfortable block of wood you ever sat in.

Arrow back glider by L & J Woodworking

Ten Years!

“That’d make a cute country store.” Those were the words, ten years ago, said in unison, by Jay and Carol Titsworth, when they first saw the building to become The Mohler House 1865 in Aurora, OR. Jay was one week into retirement and already bored. After several trips to craft shows and antique outlets, the merchandise started coming. Priced and put on the shelves with help from family members, The Mohler House 1865 opened Labor Day weekend in 1999. Stonewall Kitchen jams, Annie Harlin bears and hooked rugs, Paul Rung Shaker furniture, scherenschnitte, Rock Riffle Run pottery, Trapp Private Garden and Sunshine candles, Arawjo hand woven baskets, Rebecca Esh handmade quilts, placemats, hot pads, wall hangings, hand embroidered flour sack dish towels, antiques from Hearts of Ohio and Our Country Home, metal sculptures, embroidered art, original oil and watercolor pictures, note cards, books, everything Amish. Soon new Amish made furniture could be ordered. Historic moments in Aurora were the installation of a sewer line and the fire destroying Impressions Antiques. The business grew, moving to 3rd and Main in Aurora, then a chain was established with a second store in Salem at the historic Reed Opera House. New employees, more buying trips, making new friends with Amish builders, trips to pick up furniture people ordered, and the chain grew to historic Troutdale. On a roll, a fourth store opened in Tualatin with a receiving dock and more show room space. Although Aurora has been consolidated into Tualatin, there’s no question of what to do with retirement time for Jay. Come see us at any of the stores and wish us happy anniversary.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

When you upgraded your TV, or computer recently, it was frustratingly complicated, wasn’t it? No simple, bring it home, take it out of the box, plug it in. Extra this and that were needed, at additional expense, to make it work just the way you wanted.

Aha! Amish Workbench Furniture is NOT complicated, but simple. You pick it up, or have it delivered, put together with no need to buy extra screws or attachments, no confusing assembly instructions, and voila, it’s ready to use. You ordered the wood, stain color, fabric you wanted, it matches your décor; what could be more simple? Well, you might want to order a table pad to protect your new table. Holiday dinners are coming up.

Dovetail Drawers

Dovetail describes how the drawers of a furniture piece are jointed together. The best quality furniture is manufactured using dovetail construction like in our Borkholder, Millcraft, Valley View and Manasses Henry hutches, buffets, servers, dressers and nightstands.

Dovetail construction consists of a series of small “V” shapes that are cut from one surface with the opposite surface consisting of “V” shaped cut outs of the opposite shape. These pieces are locked together in such a manner it is almost impossible to separate them.

By jointing the drawers at the very end of each board gives maximum storage capacity. In addition to increased drawer capacity, jointing construction adds to the strength and longevity of the drawer and in turn, the entire piece of furniture.

At Amish Workbench Furniture even our specialty cabinets (hoosiers, pie safes, jelly cupboards and desks) use dovetail construction.