Harvesting a bounty of fine-crafted patio furniture, Americana Woodworks in Bend carries on the tradition of manufacturing old-style American made seating from the finest red cedar available.
Owner Mike Dolinar started the business full-time 18 months ago and the orders are pouring in. “I’d always been a woodworking hobbyist for years and wanted to do something different in my life,” he said. “Especially after being in the golf retail business for nearly twenty years.”
Dolinar’s one-man operation specializes in premium wood outdoor furniture in the true Adirondack tradition. Each piece is carefully hand-made of western red cedar, giving full attention to detail. Pride in workmanship is their motto, with a goal for his client’s satisfaction and enjoyment of their furniture for years to come.
“From 2008 until last year I was figuring out what I wanted to do and came up with outdoor furniture. It’s a real passion and I love going to shows and having people comment on the work I do. I was busy all summer long building furniture.”
Americana Woodworks creates everything from chairs to patio tables, garden swings, classic rockers, loveseat gliders and picnic benches, but his signature Adirondack chair is the flagship product.
Dolinar’s top seller is his Adirondack glider chair and demand reached a fever pitch over the past spring and summer, to the pointwhere he was back-ordered on basic metal glider arms.
“I’m part of a buying group around the country who share ideas and buy all our lumber from a supplier in Wenatchee, Washington. That nice western cedar comes right out of the Pacific Northwest.”
The low-density makeup of cedar wood accounts for its incredible dimensional stability. The less dense a wood is, the less it shrinks and swells over time in response to changes in moisture. These same low-density properties also give cedar a high thermal co-efficient and allows it to be a superb insulator, even on hot days.
The most famous of cedar’s magical properties is its resistance to rot, decay and burrowing insects, which makes it a great choice if looking for an alternative to harsh chemically treated wood. Most outdoor furniture found today achieves its exterior durability through toxic chemical treatment, including unsafe materials like copper, chromium and arsenic.
Western Red Cedar is found in the coastal forests along the upper Pacific coast of North America, from southern Alaska to northern California. Cedar grows naturally in mixed softwood forests, intermingled with Douglas Fir, Hemlock and Sitka Spruce.
Some of the more interesting offshoots of the building process are Dolinar’s beautiful red cedar kitchen cutting boards in random sizes, patterns and colorings.
“The cutting boards are a popular buy-product of the furniture making business. They were 4-5 inch scrap pieces and you really couldn’t do more with them. It makes a perfect natural cutting board because of the natural anti-bacterial properties of cedar.”
After piecing them together, Dolinar rubs them all down with beeswax and mineral oil to protect the wood.
“People really love and respond to them but my furniture is the bread and butter. That western red cedar is the best wood you can use for outdoor patio furniture. It’s mildew resistant and the bugs don’t get into it because of the resins in the wood. I finish it off with a waterproof, UV protectant. They’re all built with one-inch thick, furniture-grade cedar. It’s tight knot, meaning the grain is very refined and tight so it makes an appealing finish. We live in such a dry climate so slats on many wood chairs develop cracks and splits but these cedar chairs tend to hold up and last a lot better in Central Oregon.”
Quality workmanship is something Dolinar takes very seriously.
“If I’m going to put my name on something I want that to be an impressive piece of furniture. I take raw wood and every side is sanded, then I router the edges then start into the assembly process. I use stainless steel hardware so nothing rusts and apply water-proof adhesives so it stays very rigid and solid for many years.”
Most of Dolinar’s booming business comes from glowing testimonials and loyal referrals.
“People see my chairs at a friend’s house or at parties and that’s what you’re striving for since I don’t have a storefront and work out of my home shop. Other than go trade shows and local festivals and events, word of mouth is vital.
“These are heirloom quality pieces that you’ll be proud to hand down generation after generation. You can sit in one of my chairs all day long and still be comfortable. What I enjoy most is the design element of the business, engineering new ideas on a simple piece of patio furniture really gets my mind ticking.”
For the future, Dolinar often thinks of expanding the business to accommodate bigger orders but isn’t ready for that quite yet.
“If I had this big shop with lots of employees you lose that hand-crafted quality,” he said. “Right now I build every chair myself and that’s the way I like it. Will I ever do it? Who knows?”
Americana Woodworks
Sisters, OR
Owner Mike Dolinar
Established 2011
541-550-7050.
