Salvage Industrial Bar Cart with a Secret

Description

The clever design of this vintage cast-iron industrial machine base allows it to sit steadily until one wishes to move it. With slight pressure on the handle, the dual caster engages, and the cart is ready to roll onto the patio or into another room. We added a thick reclaimed maple top (suitable for slicing limes upon) and lower shelf. And while we kept the original galvanized steel handle, we couldn’t resist adding a little secret to the end: the matching maple grip does double duty as a cocktail muddler – just pull the pin out when you're mixing up a batch of mojitos.

Our one-of-a-kind salvage furniture is constructed in our Portland workshop from found industrial machinery and reclaimed wood from Oregon. We select from vintage i-beam trestles, machine parts, and even streetlamps for the bases, and then scour our selection of reclaimed wood slabs to craft the tops. In most cases, this wood is from deadfall or "scrap" trees that would otherwise be pulped or chipped; in others, the wood is salvaged from old beams. When designing these pieces, we choose and place each piece of wood to best feature its natural characteristics – eccentricities of grain, high figure, burl bark intrusions, and the like. To preserve the open grain of the wood, we use a 100% vegetal food-safe nontoxic finish; steel and iron components are sealed with a layer of wax to preserve their natural patina.