ORNATE WOODEN TRUNKS TERRIFIC IN JACKSON

Estelee Wood uses quilts in finishing many of the trunks. She says custom-made trunks are more personal to people.

The large camel back trunk is probably the most popular trunks they make.

Mike Wood is responsible for making the trunks, while Estelee sands them down and decorates them.

The trunks come in four basic sizes. This one, the smallest, can be used for jewelry or other smaller items.

Wooden trunks conjure up images of the good old days, often thought of as much simpler times. Many consider them family heirlooms and special places to keep cherished items.

"It's something Grandmother had," said Estelee Wood, who, along with her husband, Mike, makes ornate wooden trunks as a part of their Jackson business, Wood'n Trunks.

"It doesn't matter what she had in it -- it may have been old newspapers -- just that it belonged to Grandma is enough to make people want them."

Wood'n Trunks, a play on their family name, began several years ago. Estelee Wood used to restore old trunks as a hobby. She'd get an old trunk, restore it and fix it up as pretty as she'd like.

But Estelee couldn't do all the refinishing by herself, so she'd go to her father's shop and have him do the more complicated repairs.

"They were in terrible shape," she said.

Then later, after she got married, she came up with an idea.

"I thought if people are still wanting trunks and they're still in that bad of shape, we could build new ones," she said.

So in the early 1980s, she and her husband decided to build the trunks themselves, design them, and sell them.

That's how Wood'n Trunks was born. They sell all kinds of trunks, though their most popular is the camel back trunks.

The camel back, or rounded, trunks have an interesting history that dates to the 17th century.

Trunks used to be used primarily for traveling, Estelee says, usually by steamship or train. When the flat trunks were stacked in these vessels, the trunks on bottom were more likely to be damaged or the contents would get wet.

With the design of the rounded top trunks, people soon learned that these trunks were put on top -- nothing could be stacked on them. So more and more, people came to want rounded trunks.

The Woods wooden trunks range from $75 to $1,200.

The trunks are elaborate and ornate, looking like they might be filled with anything from buried treasure to an old quilt.

The variations are basically in size, the length and width with four basic sizes. And most of the trunks are custom made.

"Some people will send in an old quilt they want the trunk lined in to fit perfectly. I guess the customized trunks feel more personal," Estelee said.

Estelee Wood does the finishing of the interior when her husband finishes the wood work. She then sands and stains the trunks.

"Sometimes you think you can't do another one, then, when you're finished, you think that's the prettiest one yet," Estelee said.

Some of the trunks have tapestry, with beautiful designs of fox hunts, or other alluring patterns.

Mike Wood says the work is a little harder and more time consuming than one might think.

"You'd be surprised at how many people think you put it in a machine and it comes out a trunk," Mike said. "It's not that easy."

Most of the trunks by Wood'n Trunks are made out of oak, but some are made out of cherry and walnut, sassafras or poplar.

Mike Wood says if he worked on one trunk straight through, it would take two weeks, but he doesn't work that way. He planes down enough wood for several trunks and works on many trunks at a time.

This sometimes irritates people who call in wanting a trunk right away.

"Sometimes people think we ought to have trunks stacked up in the corner, but I do all the work myself," he said, adding that it's a lot of hard work. "Machines don't do it all."

And, looking around his shop, Mike says things only appear to be disorganized.

"There's wood lying around and people wonder why but I know what I got and where it is."

Estelee Wood stresses that trunks aren't out of fashion and people still buy them.

"We sell trunks to every age level," she said. "The trunk can go to a newborn baby who can have the trunk throughout childhood. We have families that buy them as wedding gifts. And they are very popular graduation gifts."

People must like the trunks, the Woods have sold them to people all over the world. They have sent trunks to Canada, Germany, Italy, France.

Estelee is mystified as to how these people know about their trunks.

"People must have heard about their trunks by word of mouth," she said, modestly.

They market the trunks by going to festivals and craft shows. They can go anywhere -- and have. They've been to Dallas, Wisconsin, Indianapolis.

"It has enabled us to see much of the country," she said. "I like traveling and meeting people, getting to know them on a first-hand basis.

"It's not like working in a furniture factory, where you make the furniture and ship it off. The work is just work, the traveling is the reward."

And people never seem to get tired of the trunks.

"They're not trendy," she said. "Sunflowers are popular now. Next year it'll be something else. Trunks are something people can always keep."