Ken Cleveland<\/b><\/p>\n
HOLDEN \u2014 \u201cI really just started woodworking last fall,\u201d David Lovell admitted recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt started out by my wife, Michele, telling me I would need a hobby when I retired,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Now it is taking him to craft fairs and sharing his work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always did projects around the house and at work that involved building things, but never really just straight woodworking. I built some cabinets for our family room once; that turned out OK, but that is about the extent of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lovell, with free time now that he is retired, works from his Holden home.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really enjoy making the cutting boards. I also have made charcuterie boards, coasters, a pizza peel, a wine bottle balancing thing and bottle openers.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has expanded his woodworking offerings in response to requests.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in the process of completing several cribbage boards that are coming out pretty well. Every time I do a craft show, I get at least one request for these,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
After a couple more requests for cribbage boards, \u201cI said \u2018that’s it\u2019 and started Monday morning and am now in the process of making seven; (there are) three different kinds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Using local materials, he processes the raw material.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been using hardwoods such as black walnut’ his favorite, ‘several different maples, cherry, mahogany, ash and sassafras. All sourced from local mills,\u201d he said. \u201cI buy it in slabs and mill it to suit whatever project I am doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cStart to finish, the process is milling the rough lumber by cutting it with a table saw or circular saw from the slab. Then flattening on the planer, cutting into strips for gluing up together then it sits for 24 hours.<\/p>\n
Then he planes again. If he wants end grain or some other patterns, he has to glue up the boards again, or just do final finishing with a router for edges.<\/p>\n
Then comes sanding \u2014 60 grit, 120 grit, 180 grit, 220 grit \u2014 and \u201cwater pop,\u201d spraying with water to raise the grain, and final sanding at 320 grit before oil and butter.<\/p>\n
\u201cTypically it takes two to three days, beginning to end,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of finish, on anything food-related I use a two-part process of a food safe mineral oil soak then apply a board butter to finish, which I also make and sell. The board butter is a combination of bees wax, also locally sourced, and mineral oil.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lovell has expanded his woodworking skills using internet resources and practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have learned a lot through watching videos and being a member of Facebook groups on woodworking and cutting boards. I try it out, learn from my mistakes \u2014 which are every day \u2014 and continually challenge myself to new and harder projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy end-grain cutting boards I find the most rewarding. You really never know what they are going to look like until the very end. Some amazing grain patterns emerge after the final oil and butter,\u201d Lovell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do consider it a hobby and really don\u2019t want it to become a business where I am so busy it requires too much time I usually spend a couple hours in the morning, have lunch with Michele, then go back until 3 to 4 in the afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lovell said he has had several requests to build larger things that he turned down because of the time it would involve.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, a dining room table, bar tops, pool furniture, side and end tables, all of which I\u2019m pretty sure I could accomplish but have no desire to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pretty much just want to build what I can sell and give as gifts as the need arises to maintain my inventory.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife, Michele, is the credit behind creating the monster that my woodworking has become,\u201d Lovell said. \u201cBefore I retired, she told me I needed a hobby so it\u2019s all her fault, and I love her for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lovell said he does the craft fair circuit, too, \u201cand this is the second fun part. I have probably done a dozen since May and have met a lot of wonderful vendors and customers along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichele and I both worked full-time jobs for the past 35 to 40 years. It really limits what you can do and see, especially when you commute one to two hours to and from work, five days a week, work\/sleep, one day for household stuff, one day rest or whatever, then back to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have flexibility every day, and just meeting people at craft shows and otherwise is much more relaxed and enjoyable. I look forward to the craft shows on the weekend and especially the Sterling Street Market every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There are lots of wonderful vendors there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe end product is most rewarding, as well as the wonderful feedback and compliments I receive,\u201d Lovell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to have fun, too. I have a sign at my craft shows that the customers love: \u2018Sawdust is Man Glitter.\u2019I even sell small bottles of \u2018man glitter\u2019 for $1. Customers love it and many relate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lovell also started a Facebook page, @Woodworksbytheway, and a website, https:\/\/woodworks-by-theway. square.site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ken Cleveland HOLDEN \u2014 \u201cI really just started woodworking last fall,\u201d David Lovell admitted recently. \u201cIt started out by my wife, Michele, telling me I would need a hobby when I retired,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}