BearRabbit

Fab.com

timchilcott — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:00:29 +0000

Hello Friends,

We hope you are all doing well! Over here at BearRabbit we have been extremely busy prepping our shop and enough wood to take on our biggest endeavor yet. We are very excited to run a 3-day flash sale with Fab.com.

What is Fab.com? Fab is a company that offers curated deals on different products. In other words they find awesome stuff on the web, and then offer it to their subscribers at an amazing price. Not only have we been members for some time because we love to look at all the things they offer, but they have chosen to feature BearRabbit starting today 4/11/12 and run us for 3 days. Being that we are still a small out of the garage workshop we had to put some limits on what we could offer so jump over their quickly before it is all gone.

To view the sale head over to Fab.com and sign-up to start seeing some amazing deals. If you have any trouble signing up shoot me a message back and I’ll see what I can do to help you out.

Thanks so much for all of your support, we really appreciate it.

Crapmanship

timchilcott — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:37:30 +0000

Right now we are in the middle of a huge craft movement. Pinterest and Etsy have all been a major part of building a space for indie artists to showcase and sell there work like never before. A lot of people have associated what we are doing at BearRabbit with this craft movement. We’d like to tell you how we are different.

We have spent hours looking through tons of different bodies of work from different artisans. One thing we have found to be pretty consistent is that people are really selling the whole rustic look. When done properly it really can be a charming look for the home. The problem we are noticing is that most everything we are seeing is built poorly. It is stuff that is made cheaply with the smallest amount of skill level and effort, and it falls apart quickly. They package craftsmanship, but in reality it is what we call crapmanship.

We never want to be associated with crapmanship.

Before we add something to one of collections, it is built multiple times and tested thoroughly. We spend time finishing our work. We really feel that detail can not be overlooked. Yes we are building things out of old beat up salvaged wood, but that doesn’t mean it has to end up looking like that. We want to build something that ends up being considered upcycled. We want to build things that will last, not something that will fall apart within months. What we do requires a lot of time and effort. Pallets are not made to come apart which is apparent when you try to take one apart. It gets even more tricky when you are taking them apart without breaking or splitting the boards. From there we mill all the wood getting it as pristine as possible before we build. There are hours of work that go into that step. If we run out of wood we have to take apart more pallets. Then we have to do more milling. Finally we start building. We focus not only on how things look on the outside, but how well they are built on the inside. We build things strong, beautiful, and with careful attention to detail. That is what craftsmanship is to us.

Making something with your hands is not craftsmanship.

Craftsmanship is making something right.

We would really love to hear what you guys think about craftsmanship. We love being introduced to other companies that embody this core quality. Who else is out there. We can’t fight crapmanship without banding together to educate people. Please help us spread the word so we can help end crapmanship, start a real craft movement with craftsmanship at its core.

Pallet Desk Complete

timchilcott — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 04:39:56 +0000

Just wanted to drop in a few shots of how the pallet desk turned out. It is absolutely beautiful.

Here is a shot showing its entire profile.

Here is a slight off center view.

Here is a closeup of the front right leg.

A view of the top.

Here is one of me and the desk so you can see how giant it is.

Roger

timchilcott — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 03:58:21 +0000

Details:
This is the kind of desk you want to work behind. Full of character, clean lines and with that undeniable handmade and honest feel, this desk is the most beautiful piece of furniture we’ve sat behind.

Where the name came from:
My grandfather Roger Chilcott used to make furniture out of pallets with my father when he was young. That skillset was passed down to me decades later by my father. As this was the first piece of pallet furniture I ever built, what better than to name it after the man who decades ago took my father into the shop and showed him the ways of building with a pallet. I can’t thank either of them enough for passing such a unique and fun craft on to me.

Dimensions:
The desk is approx. L 60″ x W 30″ x H 29 1/4″

Materials:
Made in America from pallet oak.

The Pallet Desk Build

timchilcott — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:48:31 +0000

So I wanted to go a little more in depth on what it takes to make a handmade piece of furniture from pallets. Most of the other things I have seen on the web that had been built from pallets was missing one of the most important steps in the process to me. They don’t really refine the wood to make it beautiful. They take it splinters and all just the way it is and build something out of it. That is not what we aim to do. We want to build a piece of furniture that you would be as proud to show off as any other piece in your home. Here is a simple break down of the basic steps involved with this build.

This project started with a big pile of old oak pallets. The first step required only plyers, a hammer, and a crowbar. Let the deconstruction begin. It figuratively took forever to take them apart without breaking them.

The messy aftermath of ripping out nails and the stack of boards I was able to salvage after several hours.

I decided to come up with a quick sketch of what I hoped to build. After I had the idea on paper, I started running some boards through the planer. The wood was already turning out beautifully.

Before and after shots of some newly planed wood.

A closer look shows how nice it is all starting to look. For some pieces I clamped several boards together before running them through the planer.

Glued several of the planed boards together and clamped them. We have legs! After planing for several more hours I picked out the prettiest pieces for the desktop.

Starting to get the frame put together.

Legs are on and grooves are cut for the cross pieces. Then I fit the side pieces in to give it some strength. The top is still just strapped on for now.

One by one getting the top glued in and clamped down.

Built some make shift clamp extenders to help keep everything held down while it dried. Got some of the skirting details put in to add some more strength. After I got everything clamped down I had some ugly edges due to using imperfect pieces of wood.

Took a little risk and used a router to clean up the ugly gaps, then I inlayed a small piece of oak. Looks like I meant it to be that way.

Next up is a ton of sanding. Like the most sanding ever. Here it is all sanded and ready for stain!

I hope you guys enjoyed a little behind the scenes look! We should have some really nice photos of the finished piece up sometime this week!

Pallet Desk Video Tour

timchilcott — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:48:29 +0000

The piece that got us all started. Here is a video tour of our Pallet Desk.

Introducing Kent Harris

timchilcott — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:53:46 +0000

Hello, I am Kent Harris Jr. I am a taste of technical jargon, blended together with creativity to make a wonderful concoction I like to call geek. Tim Chilcott came to me with an opportunity I felt to be more of a calling. We worked together in high school on a couple of projects but never really the chance to bounce ideas and be as innovative as we have here at BearRabbit. I hope to bring to the table design ideas that will change the way we view normal household items; each design offering elegance with out compromising quality.

Sharing My Dream

timchilcott — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:55:09 +0000

Congratulations,

You’ve made it here and to me that’s a big deal. You are now a part of my dream. The journey to this point started when I was a child spending afternoons and weekends in an old metal shed with my dad. It didn’t matter what we were building I was just happy hanging out with him.

Through the years, I always thought it was pretty normal to be taking apart a go-cart or expanding the number of engines my model rocket would hold. I was always afforded every opportunity to build, break and even destroy things in the name of learning how they worked.

A friend of mine was working on an industrial design project at Auburn University. She was well aware of my knack for looking at things and finding weak points and giving design input and asked me to look at a few drawings of a chair she and her partners were working on. I gave a few small suggestions and then went to the one-day build competition. It was fascinating! I watched people come across design challenges that didn’t exist on paper; I watched people creating something in the world; I watched creation. I was very immersed into graphic design at the time and my friend made a lasting off the cuff comment “you should do industrial design, you’d be really good at it”.

I didn’t think about that again for years. I co-founded Branch Records and we quickly realized we needed a desk soon followed by an office/recording studio space. A daunting task for some was just another project for me to work on. This was my first opportunity working with salvaged material. We used everything from old metal racks for walls and flooring for a loft to old sliding hospital doors for our studio glass. When we finished it was pretty amazing what we had accomplished. Again, I didn’t realize any of this until much later.

Fast forward to last year. My dad was showing me some pictures of a desk that he built for my brother. I remember thinking it was really beautiful. Then he mentioned something that really sparked my imagination, “it’s made from pallets”. At this point I knew I needed one. Once again I found myself taking lessons from my dad on how to take an old beat up oak pallet and tear it apart, mill it, and build it into something beautiful. Once my desk was finished I sat down and thought to myself “this is the most beautiful and well put together piece of furniture I’ve ever been in front of”. I was hooked.

Over the next few months I started searching out reasons to make things out of pallets. I made a bed, shelves, and a bunch of cutting boards. I posted a fewpictures online and I started getting a lot of really positive feedback on a hobby I couldn’t get enough of. Soon I was getting emails asking if I could build a coffee table, a bed, a dresser etc. I thought to myself, lets give this a try, and here we go.

Kelani

timchilcott — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:02:40 +0000

Details:
Every Kitchen should have a cutting board. If you are using one you are generally cooking your own food and eating healthier. We wanted to make something that was as beautiful and functional for the kitchen. Our boards are made from Oak & Walnut, both hardwoods capable of lasting years if properly cared for.

Where the name came from:
Kelani Nichole might be one of the raddest people I’ve met for only one day. I met her at Barcamp Philadelphia a few years back. She came to a talk I gave called “Potatoes” where I passed out potatoes to everyone in hopes that they could think outside of the box and create something memorable and unique. She hung the potato around her neck and wrote her name on it. I loved it. She happens to be one of the most genuine, imaginative, and inspiring people I have ever had the chance to learn from. I’m not sure if she knows it, but she has pushed me farther than I imagined in pursuing my own dreams from thousands of miles away, and I wanted to name the first piece in my collection for her.

Dimensions:
The cutting board measures approx. 10-1/4″ x 15″

Materials:
Made in America from oak and salvaged walnut. It is finished with our homemade, food safe, wood conditioner.

Mel

timchilcott — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:00:21 +0000

Details:
Our wine rack allows you to dress up your home and your wine collection at the same time. This piece is made of oak pallet. Whether you are in your dinning room or your kitchen, you are sure to be impressed by the convenience and compliments from friends.

Where the name came from:
My friend Melanie Ferarro is the life of the party. She has been one of the most interesting people I have ever met. She has the ability to turn an ordinary night into an adventure. She has been one of my best friends for years and I wanted her to be a part of my first collection.

Dimensions:
The wine rack is approx. L 3″ x W 4″ x H 13″

Materials:
Made in America from pallet oak and salvaged walnut.