His Creative Legacy Lives On In Tool Art

His Creative Legacy Lives On In Tool Art AG WORLD 34-4-21 Mike Druffel built a tool shed out of tools. Wrenches, hacksaws, clamps and drill bits are intertwined on web-like walls. Rays of light poke through holes from the saw blade shingled roof. "I like the tool shed because it was one of Mike's last and biggest efforts," says his wife, Mary. "He had been diagnosed with cancer and was trying to use up his tool supply." Mike, 65, died in 2009, leaving behind artistic creations made with nothing more than old tools and mounds of welding rods. There's the table and chairs on Mary's back deck. Two gazebos made of hoes, shovels and rakes are in the front yard. Mike made countless items for the couple's five children and regularly donated benches or other creations to his community's school fundraisers. The Druffels raised wheat, barley and dried peas in the rolling hills of Colton, Wash., but Mike always found time to create, Mary says. He had the need to make things since the time he was 3 and his family caught him heading to town for rope. In the second grade he went to school with windshield wipers on his glasses ù his own creation. Somewhere along the line - perhaps after he built a bench out of horseshoes - something clicked, and Mike decided castoff tools would be his artistic media. During winter and slow times on the farm, Mike's favorite place was his workshop. And he always had plenty of iron, picking up deals at auction sales, pawnshops, and swap meets and from local scrap yards. Friends brought him buckets of tools. Mike spent a lot of time laying out the designs, Mary says, trying to keep every thing flat and square. Each item had Mike's special signature. "He always designed a heart into every project," Mary says. "If you look closely at the tool shed you'll see several hearts. It's fun to try to find them." Mike left the shed and gazebos in their natural state, but he ground benches and tables smooth, painted them and made them as comfortable as you can make iron, Mary says. As Mike built the shed, he talked about possibly selling it. Mary has no desire to do so. She likes it in her backyard. It's a part of her husband's legacy that she'll always cherish. When she looks at it she remembers how his creative passion kept him going until about a month before he died. "I put hoes, rakes and hoses in there," Mary says. "The birds like to fly in and out of it." As for using up his collection of tools, that didn't happen. There are plenty of them left, neatly sorted in Mike's workshop. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mary Druffel (mdruffel@live.com).

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