October 2015 Customer Creations Gallery Jacksonville, FL

On March 6th, Eco Relics hosted  a fundraising event to benefit Waste Not Want Not and their mission to fight hunger and poverty by rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste. We raised enough money to collect and distribute over 9,000 lbs. of food! The nonprofit Berry Good Farms food truck was also in the house. Here’s a song from their set:…

Please join us at Eco Relics on Sunday, November 13 for our Fall Fling! There will be live music, food from the Best Burgers Jax food truck, and free beer. Free beer? Free beer! We’re raising money for the Jacksonville chapter of Best Buddies International, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for…

2015 was the first full year of business for the Eco Relics architectural salvage company, and also the first year for the Eco Relics blog. It launched with a post from back in January about our historic 1927 warehouse in Jacksonville’s Mixon Town neighborhood. Since then, plenty of posts have come and gone down the blog roll. Here’s our top…

Big Red, Eco Relics’ 1937 Ford diesel truck, doesn’t make work runs anymore. These days the old girl is content promenading around the yard, accepting compliments from admirers. The Eco Relics box trucks do Big Red’s work now, and boy do they work hard. The Deconstruction Crew, led by the father and son team of Francis and Jon, stuff those…

While sorting and organizing the vast vinyl collection at the Eco Relics architectural salvage warehouse, I came across several records produced right here in Jacksonville. While our fair city might not have the musical reputation of New Orleans, Austin, or Nashville, the truth is that Jacksonville has played a very important part in America’s musical history.   Ashley Street might…

Many historic buildings around the world are constructed with double hung sash windows. Unfortunately, many of these historic windows are lost to rot and replaced with inferior alternatives. Don’t let this happen to you! This simple maintenance procedure will return your windows to their rightful glory both aesthetically and functionally for decades to come. Before getting started, it is important…

An underground landfill fire in St. Louis has been burning for nearly four years, releasing toxic concentrations of benzene and hydrogen sulfide. It threatens to contaminate the water supply with radioactive compounds. In January 2014, sixty elementary school students and staff were hospitalized following exposure to carbon monoxide from a leaking landfill. City officials in Bozeman, Montana allowed the construction…

   Hi everyone, Doug (aka “Termite”) here along with Billy (aka “Woodchuck”) to tell you about what’s new in the wood/tool/and hardware sections here at Eco Relics. Leading off, a few weeks ago, we salvaged a huge load of heart pine beams from the historic Dyal-Upchurch building in downtown Jacksonville. Constructed in 1904, and is the first skyscraper built in Jacksonville…

The U.S. Green Building Council updated its credit system to Version 4 this year. New construction projects seeking a LEED certification may now earn up to 7 points in the Materials and Resources category that directly relate to architectural salvage. That’s 17.5% of a certification! Construction and demolition waste planning is now required for all new construction. Projects can earn up…

Cast iron is a building material with weight, distinguishing itself from more flimsy alloys and plastics that are common today. Behind that weight is the 8,000 year history of human experiments with smelting and metallurgy to develop crafted metal tools. To behold a cast iron object is to literally feel the weight of history resting in you hands. The earliest…

January is national hobby month, a time to acknowledge our interests that fall outside of our professions. Leisure time was once the exclusive province of the upper class after the Industrial Revolution, clock time, and electric lights dramatically changed most people’s relationship with work. For over a century laborers fought to reduce the length of their workday, which could range…

Our custom craftsmen in the wood shop, are always looking for creative ways to use live edge cookie slabs, and when Billy was approached by a customer with a different idea, he knew he could count on Roni Luebkert of RL Pyrography to help with this Cookie Slab Table With Pyrography And Paint Design project. (Click here to see another…

It’s time for Spring projects! We didn’t have to wait for the snow to melt, but Spring still inspires the creator in all of us. Azaleas are blooming, bees are buzzing, and everywhere you look, nature’s busy builders are collecting raw materials and fashioning them into something they can use. Here’s a couple of recent projects, one from our wood…

The Eco Relics crew is a great resource for Jacksonville’s DIY community. We are wood workers, metal workers, engineers, draftsmen, and builders of all kinds with over a century of experience and we are always available for you to consult. And we’ve just deepened our knowledge and experience by adding another unique personality to our crew. Let’s take a minute…

While all of our custom farm tables are built from authentic salvaged or reclaimed wood, you can rest assured that when shop Manager Billy Leeka takes on a new project that the Eco Relics Wood Shop will be creating another stunning table. Most of our tables are built with lumber that we have either salvaged from old barns, historical houses,…