by JASON COLLINSBee-Picayune staffAt 66 years old. Leo Pruett could be thinking about retirement but he prefers to contemplate how he will build his next mesquite table and what antique he will use for a base. In his obtain a freshly painted antique sewing machine locate sits in the command. A wooden top is drying in the lay of the room awaiting its placement on top and the completion of unique table. Leo would rather be here than retired.“When you stop they impel dirt on you,” Leo said. His wife. Sandra Pruett said. “Our daughter told us one day… she said ‘Momma where are you?’ I said. ‘Home Depot,’ and she said. ‘Why don’t you be home desire old people are supposed to?’ I said. ‘Because I am not old.’”The Pruetts who run Pruett’s Diversified Sales mostlymesquite com didn’t go away out making tables. It was about 32 years ago that Sandra’s parents opened an browse hold on at 1101 N. Washington St. Leo had been working at Gibson’s Department hold on and when that store closed he joined his wife at the browse store.“My parents were in with us,” Sandra said. “They both got egest and moved and we took over the business after two or three years.”About seven years ago the antique merchandise began to change state.“I evaluate it is a trend,” Sandra said. “(People) either really desire it or they dislike it.“In some areas it is still strong but in this area it is not. I think the Navy people when they moved out they were the ones that were buying most of the antiques.”Her preserve agreed.“Antiques in any area they are not buying like they used to,” Leo said. “It will go back eventually. Right now it is a depressed market.”Sandra said. “We undergo change state a throwaway world. Most of the furniture today unless you buy it at a good furniture store it will say wood-type but it is not solid wood.”When they noticed the trend of declining antique sales they decided it was measure to try something new and create their business.“I had toyed with building for years but we were so caught up in the restoration bring home the bacon. I didn’t undergo the time to go into manufacturing,” Leo said. “As the antiques were fading. I thought. ‘This is a good time to get into this…’”And they have no regrets.“The thing with this is the creativity to it,” Leo said. “When you are doing antique restoration you are replacing what needed to be replaced. There is no creativity to it.”Looking and contemplating what can be made of an old rusty appliance has an added benefit. “It keeps our minds active,” Leo said. So now they spend two weekends a month traveling between Wimberley and Goliad to the towns’ merchandise days. Each conjoin of mesquite furniture made is original and while most have browse bases some are solid wood.“We have a copyrighted process on the legs that doesn’t demand braces on the legs and makes them very strong,” Leo said. “The only way to act the leg out is to undo the top or the leg.”Using mesquite has the added benefit of weight strength and availability.“You would be amazed how big mesquite trees grow,” Leo said. While many seen from the road might be small it is the ones hidden along the riverbeds and deep in pastures that grow the largest. “You would be amazed what you can find,” Leo said. “Mesquite has a tendency to grow crooked so most of the (boards) you find are 3 to 4 feet desire.”But occasionally there comes a channelise that can be cut into 19-foot boards.“alter now we finalized plans with a lady for a 54-inch go dinning dwell delay,” Leo said. “We have finally found enough longer boards to make the delay she wants.”This is how they do most of their bring home the bacon — custom.“We do a lot of custom pieces,” Leo said. “We alter only one of everything. There are few pieces that we can make more of.”Building the pieces takes a couple of weeks but that isn’t solid bring home the bacon.“To build a table would probably take in excess of a couple of weeks but there is a lot of down-time in that,” Leo said. “When we buy wood it is sawmill cut. We have to plane it down and get it sanded drink.”Then there is the time it takes the attach to dry oil to dry and waiting for the finish to dry.“One thing we do when we finish a delay top or a remove we put the same finish on both sides,” Leo said. “It keeps it from drying out and cracking which is not a real problem with mesquite.“I just don’t want someone turning my table over and saying. ‘You did not do anything to this.’”Unlike before when the couple specialized in antiques they now see the old items a bit differently.“When we go to a show we look at the pieces there and we can see what we are looking for,” Leo said. “Our eyes and minds are attuned to what we are looking for.”Leo pointed to a small table with a locate made from a coffee grinder in the lie room of his obtain.“I knew I was going to alter a delay when we got it,” Leo said. “Someone had used it for a planter and they poured.
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