Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1956-05-10

Albert Johnson belongs to a
past age. In his home on Seven
Locks Road near Rockville the
66-year-old cabinet maker fash
ions duplicates of antique furni-
ture almost entirely by hand.
In our day of mass production
the three weeks of carving, shaw
ing, planning, and careful crafts
manship he devotes to each piece
is tediously slow. But the result
is worth the patience. Experts
have declared his works genuine
antiques. Pieces of furniture he's
made have sold for more than a
thousand dollars.
Power tools have showed hand
made furniture onto the same
museum shelf with the horse
and-buggy, the hand butter
churn, and the harpsichord, In
Williamsburg, restored Colonial
town, carpenters still turn out
handmade furniture for the tour
list trade. Otherwise, Mr.. John
son and a few other scattered
craftsmen are the last of dying
breed.
The Rockville native is short
and stumpy and as hard-grained
as the well-Seasoned wood he
works. He loves to talk. A pair
of Steel-rimmed glasses clings TO
his bobbed nose.
Mr.. johnson is absolutely faith
full to the ancient methods of fur
niture making. His pieces are
largely held together with pegs,
not screws. (The pegs are even
slightly lopsided as in real an
tiques.) Where nails are used,
they are hand-wrought nails he's
gathered when old buildings are
RACED.
Refuses Wood
He breaks up other old pieces
Of furniture to get his wood. He
even puts an abrasive on the
drawer runners and opens and
closes the drawers for hours to
give the impression of wear
Mr.. johnson doesn't try to fool
his customers. He tells them his
pieces are not antiques.
Sometimes he has a hard time
convincing them. Late one night
a man came to the cabinet
makers house. "EIe said he was
buying antiques for Rockefeller"
The agent inspected lowboy Mr..
johnson had made. He checked
every tiny detail that reveals an
imitation to an expert. 'He even
smelled the drawers
Finally Rockefeller's man ask
ed the history of the piece Mr..
Johnson said he'd recently COM
pleted it, Increduously the~agent
exclaimed, I'm supposed to be an
expert. But if you made that I
don't know a thing about an
tiques."
Likes LOwbOy Best
The lowboy-a small table with
a delicately shaped leg and draw
ers in fronts Mr.. Johnson's fav-
orite piece. One is currently on
display at the County Furniture
Exchange near Gaithersburg.
Ironically Mr.. Johnson has no
lowboy in his own home. Il sell
them as fast as l make them. The
price new is $500. They've resold
for as much as $1,250~
Mr.. Johnson began making
hand-crafted furniture about 25
years ago when he was in the
antique business. He saw an an
tique lowboy bring fabulous
price at an auction and asked
now-famous New York antique
dealer Isreal Sack if handmade
piece, like an antique in every
way, would bring as much. Sack
said it would.
With the help of a Virginia cab.
met maker, the late Jack Thomas,
mir. Johnson began making fur
niture. The second piece he made,
a desk, is in Virginia with 81, $50
price tag on it.
During the depression Mr..
Johnson sold his cowboys for $50.
The pieces are reselling now for
10 times as much. Why does he
concentrate on cowboys? They
are comparatively rare, they are
attractive small pieces in great
demand, and they bring good
price. Originally the lowboy was
a lady's dressing table.
For a period of IS years after
the depression Mr.. johnson aban-
doned his furniture-making. Only