Located in Northern Wisconsin, Dust and Noise Woodworking offers exquisite wooden crafts from wood worker Bruce Jessen. Specializing in coin banks with antique post office box doors, Dust and Noise also offers custom signs in a wide variety of woods for a unique handcrafted product.
Meet Bruce Jessen, the OSHA fugitive (don't tell them where to find him). A retired pharmacist, he now spends many hours a day making "dust and noise" as his wife points out, in his shop. He learned woodworking from his father and spent many hours "bonding" in his father's shop growing up. Many tools he still uses are his father's, and all his walnut comes from a tree his father cut down in suburban St. Louis in the early 70's.
Tucked away in the woods of South Range, Wisconsin, the Dust and Noise Woodworking shop is an ideal space for craftsmanship. Two miles from the nearest neighbor and 15 miles from the nearest town, "living on vacation" is a catalyst for keeping the wood stove burning (for the mistakes) and a great place to create.
About twenty years ago, Bruce purchased a few post office doors when woodworking supplier featured the coin bank idea, but never got around to using them. However, when the Knife River Post Office closed, he purchased his own post office box door. That was the catalyst, the point in which coin banks became part of Bruce's woodworking passion. His wife requested that he make one, and he was hooked. In 2015, he began to acquire post office box doors, unsurprisingly online.
After seeing what was available from other craftsmen, he began to try to make them less like a secure bank box, and more like something you would like to pick up. To that end, he raised them on "legs" and made them with the emphasis on wood grain, craftsmanship, and a sense of being able to see how they were constructed.
After talking to people at craft shows, he heard stories of "My uncle gave me a bank like that 25 years ago and I still use it."
Part "steampunk," part history, it is a gift for those people who appreciate the past and want to take a part of it into the future.
For Bruce, it is like creating an "instant heirloom."
After a few years of creating each bank completely by hand, technology got the best of him and he acquired a new "toy."
The CNC router allows repetitive tasks for more efficiency, but also for better and more consistent quality.
It also allows the same piece of wood to "wrap around" the bank to see the continuous grain.......He is a wood guy after all.
The coin slot, although it looks easy, is a difficult task to get right. Most people who make coin banks, buy a metal slot and apply on the top of the wood eliminating the need for precision.
The CNC allows more of the natural wood to show.
If you would like to purchase a handcrafted coin bank, you've come to the right place. Banks range in price from $65-$95, depending on wood and door combination.
Wood Possibilities:
Purple Heart, Quarter Sawn Oak, Tiger Wood, Lacewood, Cherry, Walnut, Beechnut, Ash, Padauk, Cocobolo
Door Possibilities:
The post office box doors available are from the 1890's thru the present. Not all are available at any given time. By the time we acquire them, they are in terrible shape and come without combinations. The cleaning and rehabbing process is done to make them usable without completely removing their patina. Each door is unique and one could only dream of the history associated with each door. Back when most communication came through the mail, it is compelling to wonder how many death notices, "Dear John" letters, and draft notices came through each of these doors.
Contact us for photos of current inventory here.
In addition to coin banks, Dust and Noise also offers custom signage. With the same variety of woods, Bruce's "programmed perfection" can create handcrafted signs for advertisement or decor. E-mail us or contact us here with your request or ideas.