Woodchopper's ball
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Bill and Cecilia Hoyt make a naked table. Their work can be seen this weekend at the sixth annual Vermont Fine Furniture and Woodworking Festival at Union Arena in Woodstock. John Gilbert Fox |
Toolbox
By JOSH O'GORMAN STAFF WRITER - Published: September 25, 2009
WOODSTOCK - From germination to growth, from milling to manufacturing, the sixth annual Vermont Fine Furniture and Woodworking Festival is a celebration of sustainability that showcases what can be done with that reliable
renewable resource, wood.
From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, the Vermont Wood Manufacturers Association will host present 50 craftsmen at Union Arena, who will exhibit their work and demonstrate their skills, said Executive Director Kathleen Wanner.
"This is really an opportunity to see the scope and breadth of Vermont wood products,"
Wanner said. "It's an industry with a 200-year history of integrity and craftsmanship."
Demonstrations include a basket maker who works with pounded ash and a man who carves bears using a hydraulic chainsaw. As in years past, the event is coupled with Forest Festival Weekend at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.
"This partnership really allows people to see the process from the forest to the final product," Wanner said.
Supervisory Park Ranger Tim Maguire said the weekend's events are intended to help people make the connection between the wood in the forest and what it's used for.
"We celebrate the forest here and we celebrate the products that come from the forest," Maguire said.
Park visitors will enjoy horse-drawn wagon rides though the forest, sawing and milling demonstrations and a one-hour preview of the new Ken Burns documentary, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Frequent shuttles will transport visitors between the park and the woodworking festival.
The connection between furniture and the materials used to make it will be illustrated by the Naked Table Project, which is the brainchild of Charles Shackleton, co-founder of Bridgewater furniture manufacturer Shackleton Thomas.
"What I love is connecting people to the environment and making things," Shackleton said of the idea, which came out of a brainstorming session during a meeting of conservation group Sustainable Woodstock.
In August, 15 local people paid $650 each to build a table with lumber cut, milled and trucked locally. Most of the money pays for the many people who handle the wood from timber to table components, with the remainder supporting Sustainable Woodstock.
On Saturday, another 15 people will build tables during the woodworking festival, with a break in the day to take a walk through the woods where the lumber came from. Each table maker will be photographed next to and will be given the GPS location of the tree planted to replace the one taken to make the table.
At 1 p.m. Sunday, the table makers will enjoy a lunch catered by the Barnard General Store consisting of locally grown food. The public can join in the luncheon for $35, which includes the $7 festival admission price.
"When people make the connection between the furniture and the forest, it's like learning for the first time that milk comes from cows," said Shackleton Thomas co-founder Miranda Thomas.
For more information and a schedule of events, visit www.vermontwoodfestival.org.
josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com
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