by Bailey White
Staff Writer
H.K. Usher, owner of Florida Heartwood, a company that restores antique heart pine wood, can tell the difference between trash and treasure, but sometimes it requires a little bit of work.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found him underneath a house, scraping away at the floor to test if it was still good,” said Annabelle Usher, his wife and business partner.
The Ushers have made a business out of salvaging antique heart pine wood from old properties — ones that are close to demolition — and restoring it, giving it new life by putting it in a new or renovated home.
The floors have the unique charm that only antique floors can. At a wood mill off of Tallyrand Avenue, H.K. Usher points out the details of the century old wood, whether it’s the width of the planks or a wave-like pattern that indicates the wood was cut with a steam engine or the thick nails that were a blacksmith’s handiwork. Some pieces have small, perfectly round circles cut into them that were made in the 1920s, when electrical wires had to be installed.
“This is the wood that was here when Columbus came to America,” said H.K. Usher. “It’s lasted this long and now we use it again to make some of the most beautiful floors in America.”
The Ushers refine the wood, trimming, sanding and fitting it with grooves before installing it in its new home.
Along with their floors, the Ushers’ clients get a little bit of history.
“Everyone wants to hear the story of where their wood came from,” said Annabelle Usher.
And Usher has plenty of stories to tell about the wood, which comes from all over the country.
He recently brought a huge load from under the streets of New York City, where it was a part of the subway system’s underground offices and work rooms. He made use of a water tower that was part of a prohibition-era speakeasy owned by actor Mickey Rooney and rescued three-inch thick boards from the Mendelson Printing Company building that was demolished last week in LaVilla. Some of his supply has even come from underwater, where large pilings of heart pine logs were left over 100 years ago.
“They’re huge,” said H.K. Usher. “We used one log to floor an entire house. The resin in the wood made it heavy, which is why they sunk. The resin also makes it more resistant to bugs, so heart pine lasts a long time.
“I spend about a week out of every month looking for the wood. But by now, people know who I am, and they’ll call me to tell me about it.”
The Ushers’ also build and install custom stairs, paneling, trim and beams.
“People in Miami want wood ceilings because they have tile floors,” he said.
Because of his special line of work, the Ushers are sometimes sought for projects in different parts of the country, “but I find plenty of work at the beaches and in town,” said H.K. Usher. “There isn’t anyone else in Jacksonville who does this.”
He and Annabelle say they enjoy the process of preserving wood that would otherwise go to a landfill and working with a product so rare that only time could create it.
“It’s just like wine,” said Annabelle Usher. “A speedy process could produce a decent bottle, but when you age it properly, you get something truly incredible.”