BOLENTOWN, S.C. - Charlie Brown has always enjoyed making things with wood. He remembers vividly carrying a hammer in his hand at the age of 7.

No surprise. After all, his father was a contractor.

The Bolentown man even recalls the first wooden shelf he built as a youngster.

But about five years ago, the semi-retired Brown "fell in love with pie safes," a 19th-century piece of furniture used to store baked goods, flour and other kitchen sundries to protect them from rodents. Before the days of refrigerators or kitchen cabinets as the standard in homes, pie safes were prized possessions.

Today, common uses for pie safes include storing linens, towels, clothing and electronics, among other items, adding a touch of yesteryear to a home.

"I'm re-creating history," Brown said.

While he is presently creating exact reproductions of the 1800s version, his initial contact with this piece of furniture resulted from people bringing him antique pie safes in various dilapidated conditions.

"They were in bad shape," he said. "Some were in boxes. Some were tied together with rope." All were looking for the craftsman's healing hands.

Even the barn in which Brown breathes new life into once shabby pie safes is bathed in history. The 80-year-old barn once served as a sweet potato barn. Now, its wooden walls serve as a fortress to the elements while acting as a citadel to Brown's craftmaship.

Early on, Brown admits he had to refer to his pie safe blueprint, but now that is not necessary.

"I know how long to make each piece, how wide to cut it, and where each piece goes," he said. "Each piece is similar, but each piece has its own personality -- much like people.

"These are not assembly-line pieces."

Brown uses red oak to build his heirlooms. All joints are mortise and tenon on doors and faceplates.

The only hardware used are hinges and six 15-inch rods with wing nuts that support the poplar shelving and hold the piece together.

Absolutely no plywood or fiberwood is used.

"Almost every piece I make, I try to incorporate some old wood in it -- usually something that is 100 years old," Brown said.

A wooden barn door latch is used to keep the doors closed.

While many original pie safes used wire mesh on their doors, Brown uses bronze or copper wire, both of which are more resistant to deterioration.

When each piece of the puzzle fits together, Brown is ready to sand the wooden creation. Each piece is hand-rubbed with both steel wool and fine grit sandpaper.

"I've gathered as much as a 55-gallon drum full of sawdust and shavings from making two safes," he said.

When Brown is ready to apply a stain, he may mix as many as three or four different stains together before obtaining that perfect color. Three or four coats of semi-gloss clear coat is then applied to the finished products.

Comparing old pie safes to his new versions, Brown said, "When people brought me an old pie safe, it was a challenge -- to bring it back like it was 100 years ago. I don't call it restoring. I call it resurrecting. It's my favorite piece to redo, because it meant so much to people. They actually depended on it."

"Today, my goal is to have so much detail and work, when old timers see this piece of furniture, it will carry them back 150 years," he said, making it a real conversation piece.

Brown said his next goal is to secure a supply of quarter-sawed white oak.

"Quarter-sawed has tiger stripes and increases the value also," he said.

While re-creating history is more or less a hobby for Brown, he is presently taking orders for his "one-at-a-time" piece.

However, don't get in a hurry. Each of Brown's creations requires at least 60 hours of tedious attention.

But the craftsman said its a piece of furniture no home should be without.

"Every home should have a pie safe," he said. "That's why mine has three."

T&D Correspondent Rendy Boland can be reached with comments or story ideas by telephone at 803-535-2222. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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