Old Fences No Barrier to Innovative Business!

Dilapidated fencing can be reused with a new purpose, thanks to Absolute Conservation Applied (ACA) in Sutter, California. What originated as a hobby for Michael A. Weeks, owner of ACA, has turned into an innovative business that has the environment at the forefront of its focus.

Week's main objective in furthering his woodcarving hobby was not to compete or copy anyone else's work; he simply wanted to discover his own niche while being creative. Thus, he began to create his own line of unique, reused wood products. His most popular style is the "basket weave," which originated when he realized the walls around dartboards suffer greatly depending on the accuracy of the dart-thrower.

His hobby transformed into a business when Weeks was injured while framing houses, and he had some time to reflect on what he truly enjoyed doing for a living. He began to look for readily available materials that could be used to construct wood products.

ACA originated from Weeks' passion to creatively reuse what was once discarded. He has since built his business strategically, taking small steps at a time. Weeks started ACA by himself. His daughter provides motivational support and serves as continuous inspiration for Weeks to pursue his dream of salvaging wood.

Weeks was dismayed to observe a friend—who had just received his contractor's license for fencing—burn an enormous pile of wood. Since Weeks had experience working with old fence wood, he realized that he could create a market for this plentiful material. He proudly displays on his wall a picture of a carving constructed from an old fence that he had rescued from a mud puddle—the first fence board he reused. Motorists were running over the board.

In mid October of 2001, Weeks received his first "shipment" of wood from Sutter Buttes Fencing, located across the street from ACA. This marked the onset of his business. Weeks is the sole operator of ACA—he runs all the saws, but he does have assistance with de-nailing and cleanup.

Weeks takes old wood, mainly fencing, and creates other products such as decorative wall coverings, closet liners, and furniture. The process is fairly simple: he takes old fencing, disassembles it, removes all the nails, metal detects it, and mills it. Weeks then cuts the wood into two sizes on the table saw. These pieces result in six different types of wall coverings. From here, he cuts the wood to the desired length and styles it.

Weeks makes furniture from 7-inch pieces of the "rips." The types of furniture range from cedar hope chests and wardrobe closets to cabinets. He planes some of the fence panels to resell as fences.

Weeks obtains most of his used wood from Sutter Buttes Fencing and from residents in the Sutter area. He often helps people clean up the area around their houses, accepting the used wood in the process. Weeks receives mostly fence wood and old barn wood of redwood and cedar. He uses the fence wood for the wall coverings and the barn wood for boards and other projects. Weeks has also supplied his daughter’s class with used wood for small Christmas tree ornaments.

In October 2002 alone, Weeks milled 813 lineal feet of reused 2 x 6s and 173 lineal feet of 4-foot-long 2 x 4s for a landscape design project.

ACA has many repeat customers that purchase wall covering and closet liners. McVey Construction (mcveycon@aol.com) is just one regular client of ACA. To market ACA, Weeks has advertised on the Internet, through Sutter Buttes Day, and by word of mouth. He keeps pictures of his products on his pickup truck's dashboard. Weeks says he cunningly turns anyone’s attempts to sell him something into a chance to make a sale himself.

Weeks' goal is to establish a production line in an enterprise zone while remaining at his current location. This would enable him to create an art program in addition to a showroom. Weeks would also like to furnish after school programs with activities that cultivate the creative side of children. He believes that their future depends on the diversity of their education.

ACA's general purpose is to create marketable wood products from used wood, giving it another chance to be reused and enjoyed for years to come.

Acknowledging that people may tire of his relentless enthusiasm for the possibilities of reusing wood, he presses on. He takes advantage of every opportunity he is given to broaden people's awareness of how ACA can provide previously discarded wood with a new purpose.

Absolute Conservation Applied
PO Box 691
Sutter, CA 95982
(530) 755-2423

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Last updated: February 27, 2008