Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP# 265: Crafting Legacy: How Relic Wood Creates Family Heirlooms

• Skip Mauney & Micah Breden • Episode 265

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What makes Micah Breden with Relic Wood a good neighbor?

What happens when military precision meets master craftsmanship? For Micah Breden, owner of Relic Wood, it creates the perfect foundation for preserving life's most precious moments in handcrafted wooden keepsakes.

The veteran-owned, family-run business in Taylorsville, North Carolina stands apart in today's market as both manufacturer and retailer of custom wooden boxes designed for every significant life moment. From wedding mementos to military retirement commemorations, these aren't simply containers—they're vessels designed to carry personal histories forward through generations. As Micah shares, "We're in the business of touching people's lives."

Micah's journey began in a high school woodshop where he "fell in love with the smell of fresh-cut wood" before his service in the Army National Guard instilled the discipline and attention to detail that now defines Relic Wood work. With over 40,000 custom pieces created for clients ranging from everyday families to Supreme Court justices and even a U.S. President, the team brings unparalleled experience to each new project.

What truly distinguishes Relic Wood is their customer experience. Each buyer works directly with graphic designers through a collaborative revision process, ensuring the final product perfectly captures their vision. "We try to be the kind of business that we want to do business with," Micah explains, highlighting their commitment to accessibility and personalized service in an increasingly automated world.

Ready to preserve your most meaningful moments in a keepsake designed to become a family heirloom? Visit relicwood.com or call 828-855-8924 to start crafting your legacy today.

To learn more about Relic Wood go to:

https://relicwood.com/

Relic Wood

(828) 302-5933



Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.

Speaker 2:

Well, hello everybody and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I am very excited today to have a very special guest in the studio with us, and I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Mr Micah Breeden, who is the owner operator of Reliquid. Micah, welcome to the show.

Speaker 3:

Hey Skip.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for having me on Well, we're glad to have you, appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule. You told me right before we got recording that you're building a house for your forever home, so I know you're a busy guy.

Speaker 3:

It can't be over soon enough.

Speaker 2:

Yep, yep, I understand. So, like I said, we're super excited to learn all about you and what you do. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your business?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, Relic Wood is a small veteran owned family business. We're located in Taylorsville, North Carolina. We're kind of unique because we are the manufacturer and retailer of our products, so that gives us the ability to give an unparalleled customer service experience for people who decide to buy things from us. We are a woodworking shop, so we build custom boxes for pretty much every life occasion that you can think of from you know births, weddings, retirements, cremation urns, you name it. We have a box that we basically will personalize to the customer when they order. Oh wow.

Speaker 2:

So primarily like types of containers.

Speaker 3:

Yes, they're. They're custom wooden boxes and usually you think of it like a keepsake box that you would put special items in you know that are special to you. My personal box that I made for myself. I have all my old passports, plane tickets from travels, special things for my wife and I from our wedding, from travels, the special things for my wife and I from our wedding. It's just a place to keep keepsakes. People use them for a lot of different things. With our military boxes they'll put their challenge coins, they'll pin their medals inside of them, put the flag that they're presented upon their retirement in them. Basically, what you put in it is up to you. We handcraft and use old timetime woodworking techniques to make it happen.

Speaker 2:

Very cool, very, very cool. Well, how did you get started in this business?

Speaker 3:

That's a long story. I can start all the way back to when I was in high school. I had the joy of working in a wood shop, that I just fell in love with the smell of fresh cut wood and actually physically making something with my hands. It was short-lived. While it was just a high school job, I ended up joining the Army National Guard and when I was in high school my mom actually had to sign a waiver for me to join during that time and so I got some really good military experience on attention to detail and leadership and and just how to deal with adversity and uh, I kind of took that that experience and and brought it into, uh, to relic wood with me we're very cool, yeah and and uh.

Speaker 3:

Thank you for your service, by the way hey, thank you very much, and I want to take just one second out of my day, since the fourth of july is coming up to uh give a big shout out and appreciation to all of our troops that are out there serving, protecting our freedom and our independence. Thank every one of you.

Speaker 2:

Amen, brother, amen, and most timely, those guys that just set Iran straight. I'm pretty thankful for that.

Speaker 3:

You and me both. You know the investment and the service and sacrifice and the ability to actually protect us and let us have peace here in our country is beyond measure. I'm just super grateful for everybody that serves.

Speaker 2:

Amen brother, Same here. So what are some myths or misconceptions in the woodworking business?

Speaker 3:

Oh well, I don't know if it's a misconception, but unless you work in a shop you know it can be dangerous. I mean, we're dealing with saw blades and table saws and band saws and routers and CNC machines and things that you know that maybe the woodworker we have tools in our shop that maybe a traditional home woodworker would not have in their shop. But it's not a misconception. But safety first when we're dealing with all this stuff is paramount for me and to make sure that my employees go home with all their digits at the end of the day. So it's not a I don't want to say it's not an easy job, it's a hard job and it's a dangerous job. And we, we, we love what we do because what we know, in the end the product that we produce, it touches people's lives, which is what, what I'm really in the business of doing.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. Well who are your target customers to buy your products?

Speaker 3:

and how do you reach?

Speaker 2:

them.

Speaker 3:

I think this is a good opportunity for me to name drop, because we've we've made boxes for all the way up to the president of the United States to down, you know, supreme Court justices. Why am I my favorite, my favorite thing to do is to make military retirement boxes. We also do a lot of police and firefighters, so documenting the careers of the military veterans, all their duty stations, so that whenever they pass on they're going to hand this box down to their kids and they're going to have a way for their kids to basically see all the different places and equipment. And they include their personal photos and all the stuff that really captures their career in one place that they'll be able to pass along to their kids, kids. So that's probably the most fulfilling thing about what we do at Relicwood is is, you know, commemorating people's lives and, and you know, making it of a quality that they can pass on, you know, even after they're dead and gone.

Speaker 3:

So, heirloom gifts is what is what makes me happy.

Speaker 2:

Very cool, very cool Generational. Yeah so outside of work. What do you do for fun? Yeah, so outside of work.

Speaker 3:

What do you do for fun? I have probably too many expensive hobbies.

Speaker 3:

I like to go elk hunting, scuba diving, spearfishing are on the top of my list and traveling with my family. You know we've just been able to spend a lot of time with my two kids growing up and taking them places that you know I started traveling a little bit later in life and I hope it doesn't make them jaded because they do so much so young. But you know they're also getting. You know they're my kids are at the age where they're entering the workforce and starting to put in those 40 and 60 hour weeks so that their travel time will diminish for a while until they, you know, get their feet and and are able to do it again. So traveling is probably my that's my kryptonite now, where do you elk hunt?

Speaker 3:

um elk hunt. We've been hunting four states for the past 10 years. Uh, we actually took last year off, uh, just because we were starting to build our home and and that's kind of a priority until we get in, because we're selling our, we're selling our kids uh, my youngest son, he's buying our house and getting married, so that was a big thing.

Speaker 3:

But we hunt in, uh, colorado um wyoming uh utah, and we've hunted montana a couple times wow, man, that's good eating too, man, when you earn it the way you elk hunting, when you, when you actually get to eat, uh, from the fruits of all the, the miles of hiking and, and the work doesn't really start until you actually, you know, get, get one down, so, uh, yeah, they taste even better oh, I bet I bet you got to take them out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's, you drag a big old, big old, because elk can get up to what A thousand pounds.

Speaker 3:

We usually take, uh, we take pack mules to get them out and it takes two mules to get one out. Uh, you know, when you once you quarter them up and and and all that, it takes two mules to carry them out. And thank gosh for the for the mules, because I personally don't want to carry back and forth even a quarter of an elk. It'll really show you what you're made of. Even after it's all turned down, it's still 80 to 100 pounds, just one quarter.

Speaker 1:

Wow, I've never done it, but I'd love to.

Speaker 3:

I'd love to eat elk, though I do love to eat elk. I was going to offer to send you a tenderloin.

Speaker 2:

Oh, dude, I'll be your friend forever you do that. Oh my gosh, I love it, I love it.

Speaker 3:

Good food's a way to get a good way to make good friends.

Speaker 2:

That's absolutely, absolutely. Well, let's switch gears for a second. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome and how it made you stronger in the end? You?

Speaker 3:

know, thinking of thinking of that question, my life has literally been nothing but a stream of difficulties. Thinking of that question, my life has literally been nothing but a stream of difficulties and in my journey I've kind of adopted a very stoic philosophy to not whine and complain about. You know what has shaped me into what I am. I think my biggest thing is you take a negative, you know, a negative thing that happens in your life and if you have a positive attitude about it, you can use it to grow. So well, I don't want to whine about any one particular thing. I will say that every time I cross something that seems insurmountable, you, you, the sun comes up tomorrow and you learn from it and grow from it and and use that to to become you know, hopefully wise later on. So either you don't make a mistake or you have your eyes open to how you can avoid those situations later on in life.

Speaker 2:

That's a great attitude to have, I tell you, and I strive to feel the way you do. But life I've always heard you know life is bad. Things happen to everybody and 90% of it, or 10% of it, is what happens to you. 90% is how you deal with it and what you do about it. So that's.

Speaker 3:

That's a fantastic. I like that. I like that a lot.

Speaker 2:

Yep, it is true. So if, if you could, micah, think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about Reliquid, what would that be?

Speaker 3:

I think the biggest thing is because we're the manufacturer and the retailer that you know. Our number one goal is, you know, a hundred percent customer satisfaction. So you're dealing directly with the people. We have graphic artists on staff so we make it very easy for you If you wanted to go and order a box. Our website is very user friendly. We have a telephone we don't you know. You can call us and we have real people that answer the phone. You don't go through some AI teleprompt to get to the one guy to send you to another guy. You're speaking to somebody that can help you and we try to be we try to be the kind of business that we want to do business with. So our website is very easy to use. We're here for you.

Speaker 3:

We have graphic designers that actually will design the artwork and make it fit, and you actually get to see proofs and approve them before we ever put the box into production. So I think that's something that our customers really love, because a lot of them first time buyers are scared. They upload some photos and they think we're just going to slap them on a box and ship it out and that's nothing. Could be further from the truth. They actually get to work one on one with a graphic designer and say, hey, move this here. I'd like to have this quote over here. So we have some revision process where we get it exactly the way they want it in their mind's eye. Ideally, our graphic artists are able to even blow away with suggestions or doing different backgrounds or just tweaking things, because we've built over 40,000 boxes that were custom for people. We've got a lot of experience in that department. You can trust that we're going to make sure that you're going to get something that's going to blow you away whenever it shows up.

Speaker 2:

Very cool, Very cool. Now, in case we've got any listeners that are intrigued and have a need for a box or want to give a gift to somebody I never say we make boxes even though that's what we do.

Speaker 3:

I never say we make boxes, even though that's what we do. I always say gift, because nine times out of 10 people are using this to give to somebody that's special to them, to commemorate a life event.

Speaker 2:

So if you're, in need of a gift for somebody that's special, then we are definitely something you need to check out.

Speaker 3:

Awesome. And how can we do that Everything? Because we don't have any brick and mortar store that you can walk into, so unfortunately, you have to look at a picture and a paragraph on our website. That never does it justice. According to all the reviews that we get, people are just blown away. So you can order directly online at relicwoodcom online at relicwoodcom. And we are also available by phone at 828-855-8924. If you need to call us, and we love to talk to people Yep 8954.

Speaker 2:

He said 8, 8, 9, 2, 4, 8, 9, 2, 4. Very good, all right. Well, micah, has been fascinating. Appreciate you again taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us and tell us all about what you do and we appreciate again, appreciate your service very much and we, moving forward, wish you and your family and Relicwood all the best.

Speaker 3:

Thank you so much. It was very nice to meet you and nice to get to know your listeners as well.

Speaker 2:

All right. Well, thank you, and maybe we can have you back in the future sometime.

Speaker 3:

Sounds fantastic.

Speaker 2:

All right, have a great rest of the day. You do the same.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom. Or call 423-719-5873.