From Forest to Furniture at Castlerock

On Saturday, Sept 26th and Sunday, Sept 27th from 10am – 4pm, Castlerock Museum in Alma, Wisconsin will hold its annual From Forest to Furniture event. During this two-day event, Todd Fleming, Tim Hartzell, Tom Latane, Paul Nyborg, Derek Olson, and Will Reser will demonstrate woodworking techniques used since the days when woodworkers walked into the woods for their material and began their work on the forest floor. Spectators will be able to visit with the woodworkers as the chips fly.

Todd Fleming, a carpenter and traditional woodworker from Middleton, Wisconsin, will be turning balusters and chair parts on the spring pole lathe. He will be demonstrating turning techniques of turning beads and coves with the skew chisel and turning gouges. Tim Hartzell, a woodcarver from Minnetonka, Minnesota, will demonstrate how to make a pedestal candle stand with a tapered, hand planed hexagonal shaft, three carved feet, and a thirteen-inch diameter top. Tom Latane, a blacksmith and woodworker with a shop in Pepin, Wisconsin, will continue work on a 13th Century style clamp front chest. The pre frame and panel construction involves mortise and tenon joinery as well as parts fitting into grooves, but no floating panels. The top of the arc style lid will start with a piece of riven oak.

Paul Nyborg, an experienced blacksmith and woodworker from Fairchild, Wisconsin, will demo riving boards from logs with wedges and a froe on Saturday. Derek Olson, an award-winning woodworker from La Crosse, Wisconsin, will demonstrate box building with traditional hand cut joinery. Finally, Will Reser, a blacksmith and woodworker from Minneapolis, will be hewing white pine logs into timbers for a small timber frame bent for a shed.

Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for students. Contact the museum at 608-685-4231 or [email protected] for more details.