Keith Makse · Guelph, Ontario

Useful.
Beautiful.
Not firewood.

Wood art, objects and experiments made mostly from reclaimed and found material.

See what’s on the bench ↓

Close-up of two handmade end-grain wooden boards — Rescued from a warmer fate.

Made so far

A few things
that escaped the fire.

One-off pieces, small runs
and ongoing experiments.

Face-grain & end-grain boards

Useful objects

The shop mallet

Tools & experiments

Artisinal Firewood

Scroll-saw work

A varied stack of reclaimed and saved lumber in Keith’s workshop

The raw material

The wood often decides what it wants to become.

I rarely start by buying perfect new boards. Most of what I use is reclaimed, found, or material I already have—offcuts, odd pieces and wood with a bit of history left in it.

TOO GOOD
TO BURN

Keith, not firewood

The short version

I’ve always liked making things.

One of the first things I remember is a wooden toy car my dad made for me when I was three. He worked on a factory line, and he would plan projects in his head while he worked, then come home and build them. I still have the car.

That probably has a lot to do with why I like working with wood now. I’m interested in making things that are useful, well made and good to look at. Too Good To Burn is a place for those projects—small pieces, useful objects, experiments and commissions.

— Keith Makse, Guelph, Ontario

Open to commissions

Have a useful problem?

Three-quarter view of the wooden tool caddy built for the Guelph Tool Library — The finished structure

Full view of the Guelph Tool Library caddy loaded with long-handled garden tools — Loaded and ready for the Guelph Tool Library

Tool caddy for the
Guelph Tool Library

A practical piece built for a community that believes useful things should be shared, repaired and kept in circulation.

I’m open to interesting commissions: a piece for a particular place, a useful object you can’t find, or an idea built around wood with a history.

Start a conversation ↘

A family table, carried forward

Floating shelves
with a history.

A family dinner table had reached the end of its life as a table, but the wood still mattered. It was stripped, tested and refinished as a pair of floating shelves—keeping a familiar piece of family history in daily use.