Skip to main content
You are the owner of this article.
You have permission to edit this article.
Edit

Jefferson City tornado proves to be a bonanza for two furniture makers

  • 3 min to read
Carl Orazio, left helps Chris Cady with a saw blade that will be inserted into a sawmill in Harrisburg on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019

Carl Orazio, left, helps Chris Cady with a saw blade that will be inserted into a sawmill in Harrisburg. Cady and Orazio scavenge for dead or fallen trees and, in a conservation effort, make furniture out of the dead and fallen trees. 

Five years ago, Chris Cady and Carl Orazio bought a sawmill.

They wanted to find fallen trees that were too good to waste, slice them into lumber and recycle the wood as tables, chairs, benches and cabinets.

Chris Cady holds a stip of wood that will be turned into furniture

Chris Cady holds a stip of wood that will be turned into furniture in “Garage Mahal,” where wood and a collection of items are held at the sawmill he and Carl Orzazio in Harrisburg. They bought the shed five years ago. 

Chris Cady is a environmental scientist with the Missouri Department of Conservation

Chris Cady is an environmental scientist with the Missouri Department of Conservation. Cady and Carl Orazio bought a sawmill in Harrisburg five years ago for the purpose of scavenging dead and fallen trees to turn into furniture. 

A shed overlooks the sawmill owned Chris Cady and Carl Orazio in Harrisburg

A shed overlooks the sawmill owned Chris Cady and Carl Orazio on Sept. 26 in Harrisburg. Cady and Orazio are environmental scientists and decided to put the sawmill to good use by creating furniture from trees that were brought down during the Jefferson City tornado this past May.

Stacks of wood lay in the “Garage Mahal” on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019 as Chris Cady calls it at the sawmill he owns in Harrisburg

Stacks of wood lie Sept. 26 in “Garage Mahal,” as Chris Cady calls it, at the sawmill he owns in Harrisburg. “Garage Mahal” itself was built with recycled materials. 

Carl Orazio, right and Chris Cady work with a stripped piece of wood that will be used to make furniture at the sawmill they own in Harrisburg

Carl Orazio, left, and Chris Cady work with a stripped piece of wood that will be used to make furniture at the sawmill they own in Harrisburg. Many different types of trees are scavenged for, including oak and cherry among a host of other types of trees.

  • Community reporter, fall 2019. Studying print / digital news writing. Reach me at mariana.labbate@mail.missouri.edu, or in the newsroom at 882-5700 .