Furniture maker Rod Devries was a happy man after securing 40 historic pieces of timber from a demolished Orange building at auction. Source: Central Western Daily
Mr Devries bought the large ironbark hardwood logs at $700 each.
“I’ll be making furniture out of them,” he said.
Mr Devries said he was restarting a recycled furniture business, Bulletproof Furniture, at Millthorpe after 20 years as a real estate agent.
“They are ironbark from the 1870s,” he said.
About 114 large hardwood logs, and piles of floor boards and beams were extracted from the former CF Williams building in Peisley Street. The building was bought by Orange City Council and the structure demolished. Council has not announced any plans for the site.
It was estimated that the sale value was more than $130,000 from the auction at the council’s McLachlan Street depot which was attended by about 100 people.
Due the quality of the timber it was described by the auctioneers, Burns Auctions as a ‘once in a lifetime event’.
Auctioneer Scott Burns told the crowd it was rare to see such timber available.
“You’ll never, ever see this again, 1890 they were cut by the way,” he said.
Mr Devries said the timber was particularly valuable as it had been well-preserved inside the building for all the years.
“That was fantastic,” he said. “That was a dream really.”
He said he was looking forward to making furniture out of such high grade timber.
“I haven’t seen timber of that size or quality for sale in Orange for 20 years,” he said.
He said a mate had bought 40 more of the logs which would be stored as a “long-term investment.”
Mr Devries said he was returning to his passion of furniture making by opening a gallery at his home.
The first project would be to convert some of the timber into four large entry doors for the gallery. He said he would be using steel hinges off old railway carriages to attach them.
The logs were one of 49 lots auctioned off. Other lots auctioned ranged from bundles of damaged flooring and timber to water-damaged skirting and boxes of verandah accessories that were not from the historic building.
