Second Life For Wooden Hot Tubs

Nothing lasts forever, not even beautiful wooden hot tubs, but instead of burning the wood from a retired teak tub in a giant bonfire (which sadly happens occasionally), a skilled woodworker can transform the tub into a table, chair or some other functional piece.

Pat Murphy, owner of Home Environments in Spokane, Wash., took his woodworking hobby to the next level when he drew his niece's name for a Christmas gift exchange. She was expecting her first baby, and as Murphy pondered gift ideas, he recalled a 20-year-old teak hot tub that he had just gotten and transformed it into a cradle for his niece.

"All the hot tubs we get back are ones we sold 20 or 30 years ago, so they are just the best possible material you can get as far as redwood and teak and cedar," says Murphy. "It's all clear, vertical-grain stuff. You can't find that kind of wood hardly anymore. So it's really nice to work with and easy to tool, and you can make just about anything. It's pretty forgiving for a rookie like myself."

In addition to the cradle, Murphy has also made love seats and planters and recently crafted an oval table out of the bottom of an old hot tub for a long-time client. "He was kind of hesitant when we delivered his new tub as far as what he wanted to do with the old one, and I said, 'Tell you what: If you give me the tub, I'll make you a table.' I don't think he was expecting as nice of a table as what he got."

Murphy says his father has a 30-year-old tub at his house that's not holding water anymore. "I told him, 'You better be looking over your shoulder because one of these days, that's going to be gone. It's going to be in my shop.'"

Since this is Murphy's hobby, he doesn't do all that many pieces a year, but he also doesn't charge for his work. "I have a lot of people who want to pay me to do it, and it's pretty time consuming. But I just enjoy it, and I enjoy what it brings to people."