The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-07-18
Carpentry as n Hobby.

Carpentry as llOUU|s
"Send that dressed stuff home this af-
ternoon, sure" said a boss carpenter to
his assistant, giving him the address OF a
well-known banker.
You seem to be doing lively bust
ness" remarked the reporter.
eve have quite run of custom" said
the carpenter, I" but it happens in this in
stance, as in several others could men
ton, that we are not going to do the ac-
tual job at all. Our part in the operation
ends with getting out the stuff; the
work, whatever it is, will be done by the
purchaser
I" The fact is that considerable num-
Der of well-to-do persons have curious
fancy for doing carpentry work; it's
sort of mild mania with them. They do
not do it to save money, for they are ter
rible destroyers of wood, and this clear,
nicely dressed stuff is costly. But it |
seems to be a relief for men who work
with their brains to start up job now
and then with their hands. / know an
uptown physician who often devotes sew
eral hours to carpentry after hard days |
work in his profession. He once left
word for me to call at eleven O'Clock at
night to help him do some ripping on
hard stuff; we did not get through until
two o'clock in the morning. His wife
told me she had long since become accus-
toned to his bammering, and did not
mind it. He was excitable and deeply
interested in his profession carpentry
work quieted his nerves. The doctor al
ways looked at piece of wood very at
teativelv before saving it, and measured
it up with his eye. l think he was calcu-
lating for the job pretty much as though
he was having to do with an arm or leg.
1t seems kind of natural that a surgeon
should take to carpentry.
"These amateur carpenters do good
work sometimes. You would be surprised
TO see how neat and solid some of it is.
They are able to take the requisite time
to it, and can afford to throw out any ma
terial that is not perfectly good, or that
they have spoiled in working up.
"No. cannot say I've noticed that the
fancy for hammering is stronger in one
set of men than in another. People of
New England descent may possibly have
a more powerful leaning in that direction
than some other folks have. The genuine
Yankee takes much delight in making ia
bles and chairs and in doing repairing
around the house. To drive nail in sol
idly seems to tickle the New England
mind. The fine cabinets and desks and
! highly ornamented pieces of work are turn
ed out mostly by professional men. Two
business men that know have special
fancy in the line of wheelwright work,
such as baby carriages. A man on Long
Island had a passion for making odd
shaped tall clocks, and man living on
the Hudson river will turn out as hand
some an oak chest as you would wish to
see. He uses English wood which has
been carefully seasoned. In fact, most of
them have specialties. Some prefer house
carpentry, and are always pulling down
or putting up something new for the fam
ily's comfort others take to joinery, mar
quetry or fancy turned work.
"The getting up of pieces of furniture
in imitation of antique styles has the call
, Just now. saw one of my customers
} breaking apart splendid old solid ma
, hogany wardrobe the other day that he
had recently purchased. In answer tc
my question he said he wanted the dark
, seasoned wood to make into an old-time
cabinet. 1t was not bad idea, but would
, be an expensive one for professional
carpenter to indulge in.
{ "What do they do with their finished
work? Oh, they often give it to friends
l saw fine chiffonier not long sine,
3 which was made by New York man fo
( present to his daughter. Some of thei
, best pieces of cabinet work, however, ar,
J. kept at home. The amateur carpente
' will sometimes undertake to furnish al
: entire room with articles of his owl
8 make. can show you very pretty stud.
t that its owner, literary man, spent fou
l years in fixing up.
1 D." A lawyer told me that with plan
D in his hand he could sometimes original
I: much better defense for client than h
l could with pen the pen came in onl
t after his line of argument had bee
!, thought out. He said that the points TO
i the best defense he ever made came t
3 him Just as he succeeded in getting tn
d better of knotty piece of cherry whic
g had bothered him the whole evening.
n asked him why he chose carpentry to wor
a at rather than something else, He said
3 was because it combined exercise wit
ideas. He had tried the gymnasium
y but that kind of exercise did not intereE
4: him.
u "As a rule amateur carpenters seem
d prefer to do their work alone. Carpentr
g is a solitary pleasure, something Lib
70 brook fishing."-N. Y. Sun.