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TALENTED TOOL MAN
Turning trash into treasures
AUSTINTOWN
When John Aquisto stumbles across a few pieces of scrap wood, the remnants of a garden hose caddy or a broken ceiling fan, he doesn’t see a piece of junk, he sees a challenge and an opportunity.
After all, the industrious 78-year-old Austintown resident has a knack for turning trash into treasures.
Just take a quick glimpse at his Burkey Road property to see a few of his decorative lawn ornament creations, including a windmill and flower-filled horse-drawn wagon.
The windmill is made from blades of a old ceiling fan, and the base is constructed from pieces of house siding. The wagon, meanwhile, features plastic horses from a children’s carousel and parts from a garden hose caddy.
“Whatever enters my mind, I make it. I see something, and I want to make it or make a change with it. I go home and I make it,” Aquisto said.
His crafty hobby started in his early teens with one of his first projects — a motorized wagon that he used to deliver newspapers.
“It was a wooden wagon, but it was strong enough to have me and my newspapers. When it was time to mow the lawn, I would just take the motor off and put it back on the mower. It was the only wagon with a motor,” he said.
The Youngstown-area native admits that he wasn’t much of a student — he completed his education only until about early middle school — but he was always had a talent for designing things.
“I couldn’t stomach school. The only thing I liked was mechanical drawing. I got an A-plus in that,” he said.
After serving nearly two years in the U.S. Army Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Ky., Aquisto primarily worked construction and labor jobs — most recently serving as a delivery driver — before retiring in 2001, shortly after his wife, Grace, died.
He’s lived in his current home since 1960. Although he didn’t build the home, he has reconfigured the floor plan so that it has an open design in which each room leads to the next. He also modified the kitchen by installing extra cupboards, rewired lighting so that basement lights can be switched on and off from the first floor and constructed an enclosed back porch and detached garage.
His garage is his workshop, well-appointed with an impressive assortment of tools, wooden boards and pieces.
The garage is also the home of one of his most prized pieces of construction equipment — his Shopsmith-brand woodworking machine, which he purchased when he was 16 years old for $364. The sturdy machine, which he still uses for many of his projects, serves as woodcutter, lathe and sanding machine and now sells for at least $5000, Aquisto said.
His garage also houses a lawn-tool organization device he created that stores his rakes, hoes, hedge trimmers and a trash can on one unit.
Aquisto has a humble demeanor, but he’s not afraid to show off some of his favorite creations, including his mailbox near his front door.
He’s quick to point out, however, that this just isn’t any mailbox. The mailbox is mounted on a board and metal pole. With a quick pull of a metal spring, the mailbox swivels to his front door, allowing him to retrieve his mail without leaving his doorstep.
“Why don’t people do the same thing [with mailboxes] at the curb, instead of waiting for traffic, they can just turn it [the mailbox],” Aquisto said.
Another favorite project — a scale model of his home that he’s worked on for the past 32 years — is in his basement.
Aquisto tinkers with the model home as he has the time, adding details by using household items such as coffee stirrers, tongue depressors and nail files.
Most of his building materials are everyday items that he finds around the house or often other people’s trash.
“A lot of times, I’ll knock on the door and ask people if they are getting rid of something. They’re usually glad to give it away. ... How many times are you driving down the road, and you see baskets being thrown away? I pick them up, and I put flowers in them,” he said.
For now, Aquisto says he has no plans of curtailing his creative side. He’s got a couple of projects for himself in the works and is working on building another windmill lawn ornament.
“It’s better than drinking beer and getting drunk.”