No. 02

About Us

Inspired by our grandfather, Earl Hoeft, and his love of woodworking, we're carrying on the tradition by bringing reclaimed wood back to life.

Portrait of Earl Hoeft — Earl Hoeft, 1905–1991

The railroad man and his workshop

Earl Hoeft worked at the Burlington Northern Railroad in Brainerd, Minnesota for 25 years. After a long day of hard labor, he would come home to his wife, Beatrice, and their four children: Jean, Joan, Gary and Neil.

Next to the house stood an old garage he had turned into a workshop. There he built lawn ornaments, birdhouses, cement sculptures and all kinds of woodworking projects.

In retirement, Earl turned the front of his home into Hoeft's Gift House, and spent those years building and selling his work to the public.

Passed down the line

Earl shared his skills with his children and grandchildren. Neil went on to build lawn ornaments, and Joan had her own line of greeting cards.

Today his grandson, John Hoeft, and great-grandson, Zach Carlson, have teamed up to carry on the tradition with Barnwood Skylines. Zach also builds a variety of home furnishings from reclaimed wood.

The EarlWorks team smiling in front of a wall of barnwood skylines — Carrying on the tradition

The Tradition Today

From the workbench to the wall: every piece is measured, cut, burned, fitted and glued by hand.

Laying out reclaimed boards for a skyline on the workshop bench

Two makers cutting barnwood at the band saw

Torching reclaimed boards to darken and texture the wood

Fitting a steel skyline cutout into the frame

Gluing barnwood towers into a skyline in the shop

Marking reclaimed boards with a pencil at the workbench

Cutting a small barnwood skyline with a power saw

A Stone Arch Bridge skyline being assembled on the bench

Shelves of finished small skylines waiting in the shop

A Lowry Bridge skyline in progress on the workbench

Thank you for visiting EarlWorks.

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