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Friday, December 24, 2010
The Magic of Wood
4:17 PM | Posted by
David |
As long as I can remember I have always had a fascination with wood and woodworking. I'm sure a lot of that came from growing up across the road from my grandfather who was a well known cabinet craftsman in Southern West Virginia. The sign posted above the door to his shop read, "C. H. Akers Cabinet Shop and Saw Sharpening. Cabinets and Church Furniture". Some of the most beautiful communion tables came out of that shop.
My grandfather was known for making his own woodworking tools. Most of his shapers and profile blades he made himself out of large saw mill blades that had been sharpened just one too many times. The loggers used to pull up in front of the shop, always greeted with a handshake from this older gentleman with the snow white hair. He had fabricated a track and pulley system to load the blades from the trucks and then move them inside to a big table. He would then rig them up on a hoist and swing it to his sharpening bench. He'd take a piece of chalk and mark the first set of teeth and then begin the mastered art of sharpening the rest. He'd file the edge, then position a tool behind the teeth he had built and tap it with a special hammer, then, skip a tooth and move on to the next. When the chalk mark came back around to the top he'd reverse the saw and do all again on the skipped teeth. He'd then spray it with oil and put in a rack with the owners name on it. I have spent hours sitting on the stool beside the door watching him. My grandfather and my dad were once carpenters for the large Ritter Lumber Company at Blue Jay. So much of the hardwoods were cut for building houses and the rest for mine timbers. I have an old photograph that once hung in my grandfather's living room. It showed the lumber company stretched from one end of town to the other, with the railroad running right through it.
I was recently given a treasured opportunity to tour a lumber yard that is run by a gentleman in Pennsboro, West Virginia. I know I must have been like a kid in a candy store. Mainly because I was. They were cutting West Virginia Red Oak for flooring the day he took me through the operation. I was amazed at the whole operation and the small amount of waste from his mill. The large logs were put on a de-barker and then kicked to a conveyor that took them to the first cuts. A man sat in a small control room and watched the whole operation on a computer and sized each cut just right. The lumber then went to the band saw and was sawed again to size and then to the sorting and stacking. The bark and unusable slabs were sent to a chipper that ground it up and sent it to be used as mulch. I was fascinated after seeing what my grandfather would do at the "auto" sharpening system for the chipper blades. Across the road was the mulching center. Here the waste was cut and ground into mulch for landscaping and other uses. The owner of the saw mill was also following a family tradition. He is proud of what he does and it shows in his operation.
After doing some research I decided to build a rocking chair using the same techniques as my grandfather. I had watched him as youngster and felt that now I have the time, I wanted to try it myself. I used true West Virginia Black Walnut , along with Red Oak and Ash for the runners and pins. There was to be no nails, all joints were to be cut and pegged. From the very beginning it was a challenge to bend the Walnut for the seat back, along with the curved arm rest. But I stayed at it, keeping to the promise I made myself not to lose the integrity of age old craftsman's methods.
Wood , especially Walnut, is very expensive and if it wasn't for a family in Caldwell, Ohio, along with the owner of the mill I toured, I couldn't do the projects I have recently done. Because of them, I had the privilege of building a large entertainment center out of Wormy Chestnut taken from a barn in Boone, North Carolina, many years ago. It can try one's patience, but the results in the end are more than worth it. To Jim Edmistin and his family I thank you, so very much.
My grandfather was known for making his own woodworking tools. Most of his shapers and profile blades he made himself out of large saw mill blades that had been sharpened just one too many times. The loggers used to pull up in front of the shop, always greeted with a handshake from this older gentleman with the snow white hair. He had fabricated a track and pulley system to load the blades from the trucks and then move them inside to a big table. He would then rig them up on a hoist and swing it to his sharpening bench. He'd take a piece of chalk and mark the first set of teeth and then begin the mastered art of sharpening the rest. He'd file the edge, then position a tool behind the teeth he had built and tap it with a special hammer, then, skip a tooth and move on to the next. When the chalk mark came back around to the top he'd reverse the saw and do all again on the skipped teeth. He'd then spray it with oil and put in a rack with the owners name on it. I have spent hours sitting on the stool beside the door watching him. My grandfather and my dad were once carpenters for the large Ritter Lumber Company at Blue Jay. So much of the hardwoods were cut for building houses and the rest for mine timbers. I have an old photograph that once hung in my grandfather's living room. It showed the lumber company stretched from one end of town to the other, with the railroad running right through it.
I was recently given a treasured opportunity to tour a lumber yard that is run by a gentleman in Pennsboro, West Virginia. I know I must have been like a kid in a candy store. Mainly because I was. They were cutting West Virginia Red Oak for flooring the day he took me through the operation. I was amazed at the whole operation and the small amount of waste from his mill. The large logs were put on a de-barker and then kicked to a conveyor that took them to the first cuts. A man sat in a small control room and watched the whole operation on a computer and sized each cut just right. The lumber then went to the band saw and was sawed again to size and then to the sorting and stacking. The bark and unusable slabs were sent to a chipper that ground it up and sent it to be used as mulch. I was fascinated after seeing what my grandfather would do at the "auto" sharpening system for the chipper blades. Across the road was the mulching center. Here the waste was cut and ground into mulch for landscaping and other uses. The owner of the saw mill was also following a family tradition. He is proud of what he does and it shows in his operation.
After doing some research I decided to build a rocking chair using the same techniques as my grandfather. I had watched him as youngster and felt that now I have the time, I wanted to try it myself. I used true West Virginia Black Walnut , along with Red Oak and Ash for the runners and pins. There was to be no nails, all joints were to be cut and pegged. From the very beginning it was a challenge to bend the Walnut for the seat back, along with the curved arm rest. But I stayed at it, keeping to the promise I made myself not to lose the integrity of age old craftsman's methods.
Wood , especially Walnut, is very expensive and if it wasn't for a family in Caldwell, Ohio, along with the owner of the mill I toured, I couldn't do the projects I have recently done. Because of them, I had the privilege of building a large entertainment center out of Wormy Chestnut taken from a barn in Boone, North Carolina, many years ago. It can try one's patience, but the results in the end are more than worth it. To Jim Edmistin and his family I thank you, so very much.
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