From fallen trees to custom furniture: How a Zebulon company is giving Triangle timber a second life
ZEBULON, N.C. (WTVD) -- Every day, trees come down across the Triangle -- cleared for new developments, felled by storms or simply reaching the end of their life. Most end up in a landfill or are ground into pulp. Dylan Selinger has spent the last decade making sure some of them don't.
Selinger is the founder and owner of Oak City Customs, a custom furniture company that has turned reclaimed local trees into a growing business -- and into bar tops, dining tables and shelving found across the region.
"There's so much furniture out there that's kind of an attitude of buy it and use it, then throw it away and get a new one," Selinger said. "And that's the opposite of what we do. We want to build something that stands the test of time -- that you never have to buy again."
Oak City Customs didn't start as a business plan. It started as a hobby.
Selinger, a North Carolina State University graduate, had already helped launch Crank Arm Rickshaw and Crank Arm Brewing Company in downtown Raleigh before woodworking pulled him in a new direction. What began with small handyman jobs found through Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist grew, piece by piece, into something bigger, a shift he says he didn't fully see coming.
"A hobby can quickly turn into a business without you really realizing it," Selinger said.
More than 11 years later, that hobby has become a 30,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Zebulon with 18 to 20 employees. The company handles nearly every step of the process in-house -- sourcing, sawmilling, kiln-drying, CNC cutting, metal fabrication and finishing -- something Selinger says sets Oak City Customs apart.
"It really makes the experience for our customer much more simple," he said. "You're dealing with one company, and we care about all of those steps."
Tree to Table
The company's trademarked process is what Selinger calls "tree to table."
Logs that would otherwise be hauled to a landfill, a yard-waste facility or a pulp and paper mill instead make their way to Zebulon, sourced through partnerships with local tree services and property owners.
The transformation isn't quick. Selinger says it typically takes three to five years for a piece of material to go from a standing tree to finished furniture.
"Seeing the unique pieces of material start from a tree, and three to five years later turn into a beautiful, finished product - it's just really rewarding," he said.
The scale has grown with the company. Oak City Customs now produces roughly 100,000 board feet of lumber a year -- enough for about 1,000 tabletops -- and Selinger says he'd like to double or even triple that in the years ahead.
One of the company's largest undertakings to date came through a partnership with Novo Nordisk, which is building a new pharmaceutical facility in Clayton. Rather than see the site's trees hauled off to a pulp mill, Oak City Customs stepped in.
"There was about 300 acres of material that we walked and made possible to bring here, rather than going to a pulp or paper mill," Selinger said.
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A Familiar Name Around the Triangle
Even if you don't know the name Oak City Customs, there's a good chance you've sat at one of its tables.
The company's work can be found at Crank Arm Brewing's Raleigh and Durham locations, The Davie, and multiple Dram & Draught locations across North Carolina, a build Selinger says his team has now completed six times.
Asked to pick a favorite project after more than a decade of custom work, Selinger laughed off the question.
"It's like being a parent - you can't pick your favorite kid," he said.
For Selinger, durability isn't just a selling point. It's the whole philosophy. Every piece is meant to be an heirloom: sturdy enough to be passed down and refinished rather than replaced.
"We're not buying and throwing away something," he said. "We're building it once, and it's going to last forever."
It's also, he says, a vote for local manufacturing at a time when much of the furniture industry has moved overseas.
"We're really proud to be a part of the community, producing something, bringing jobs to this community," Selinger said.
Oak City Customs opens its doors to the public every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for walk-in shop tours.
"Come see us. We'd love to give you a shop tour," Selinger said. "Bring your family, bring a kid, show them something pretty interesting and just different. The big machinery is really fun."
Oak City Customs is located in Zebulon. More information is available at their website.
