WOODEN TRUNKS CARRY PAST INTO THE PRESENT

Mike Wood looked at the lock on a steamer trunk that received a patent for the trunk in September 1869. Wood makes keys for the trunks after he restores them.

Estelee Wood covered the inside of this oak trunk with a teady bear pattern quilt.

Mike Wood left the original photo inside the trunk lid of a trunk made in the late 1800s while refinishing it. The pine wood trunk will be restored using the original metal bracing.

Estelee and Mike Wood prove that appreciation of things past can make for a dynamic present.

They also know a good idea is timeless.

Expanding on a centuries old basic design, the pair craft items that have the unique characteristic of becoming instant family heirlooms. This autumn marks the Jackson couple's 20th year of making wooden trunks.

"I appreciate the things that were used in the past," remarked Estelee Wood, noting, "a lot of things won't be reproduced."

However, she and her husband are a two-person workforce determined to carry on the tradition of family trunks. It is both a passion and a livelihood.

"I've always been fascinated with trunks," Estelee Wood said, recalling the turn of events that led to the inspiration for her family business some 20 years ago. During restoration of an old trunk, she recalls questioning, "`If they could build these things 100 years ago .... why can't we build something similar.'"

Mike Wood designed the unique top -- for which the pair has obtained a patent -- and soon a few trunks were sold and the business was born. In the early years, Estelee Wood's father, the late Dale Seabaugh, helped with the endeavor.

Traveling to shows across the country, the couple actively market their business, Wood'n Trunks. Their trunks have found their way into homes in many corners of the world.

That's because a trunk, Estelee Wood said, is something that most everybody can relate to. Most people have memories of family trunks.

"Let's hope there's time to sit back and think about grandma's house," Estelee Wood said. "If we lose continuity with our past, then we're not going to be interesting people."

Many of the Woods' trunks are purchased as gifts. "It is still fun to see people carry them home with the anticipation of what it's going to provide for that family member," Estelee Wood said.

In their workshop on the outskirts of Jackson, Mike Wood cuts the wood and fashions the trunks, each with the unique, patented, top design.

He said he gets enjoyment and satisfaction with his hands-on work. "Sure, I get disgusted and aggravated, but very few people are working and doing what they enjoy." He counts himself among those few, adding: "You won't do nothing good unless you like it."

With her part of the endeavor largely based in their home near Jackson City Park, Estelee Wood tends to the finishing work which includes staining the wood and lining the interior with linens, often tapestries.

Lining possibilities are endless. Some customers request that heirloom doilies or tablecloths be used as the lining, while others prefer coordinating the lining with the interior design of a room.

Wood'n Trunks' newest feature is called the "quilt-top." As the name implies, Estelee Wood incorporates a portion of a quilt on the lid of the trunk.

As with their entire business, custom orders can be made.

Their patented trunk-top-design features three wooden slats secured horizontally across a rounded and twisted camel-back lid. While capturing the overall appearance of the traditional trunk, the Woods' version incorporates many advances.

"We basically made our own pattern using some ideas and techniques from old trunks," Estelee Wood explained.

"Old trunks usually were pine crating covered with tin or canvas and banded with metal strips," she continued. Most of the trunks the Woods make are crafted from oak, but some are walnut or cherry.

The trunks, available in different sizes, each feature a tray with at least one compartment. "The larger the trunk, the more compartments inside," Estelee Wood explained. The Woods' also make a trunk for storing doll clothing and a hat box design. Some of their trunks feature hand painting which is done locally.

These days, she said, trunks are a traditional piece of furniture used for countless purposes.

"Old trunks we see now are almost always 100 years old," she said. "In those days, they were built as a necessity. They were made to transport belongings across the country." They might have carried tools, books or seeds, not to mention clothing articles.

While trunks were used as a storage and transport tool for hundreds of years, the round-top trunks became famous in the days of General U.S. Grant, she said.

Flat-top trunks could be stacked atop one another in steamships and trains but the round-top trunks demanded special attention. "Rounded-top trunks were put on top of all the others. It was prestigious item," Estelee Wood said, smiling.

The couple's four daughters, who each reside in the Dallas area, lend their own expertise to the family business, from sales to design and printing of marketing materials.

And Estelee Wood keeps attuned to any ideas that might be incorporated or adapted within the traditional trunk. The pair also restore old trunks.

To commemorate Wood'n Trunk's 20th anniversary, she's working on an idea for a glass display case that would incorporate the wooden-trunk-top design.

The experienced entrepreneurs encourage others to be open to the many possibilities that are within their reach.

"If you have an idea and it's unique and you can do it," Estelee Wood encouraged, "by all means, capitalize on it and make it yours."