8 ■ POPULAR WOODWORKING
As the leaves turn and the
nights get cooler, I know woodwork-
ing season is approaching. Yes, I
do spend as much time in the shop
as I can, but the warmer summer
months mean mowing, trips to the
cabin and preparing my house for
the onslaught of Minnesota winter.
But once those leaves are raked, it's
prime woodworking time. And it’s
a good thing, too, because there are
gifts to make.
My mom’s side of the family
exchanges homemade gifts, and it’s
one of our longest-standing family
traditions. I’m not entirely sure
of the origin, but I know that each
Christmas, after dinner, everyone
gathers in a big circle and exchanges
homemade presents. Or at least
that’s how it’s happened for the last
34 years. Three generations of family
give and get handmade presents.
There are choruses of “Oh my!
You made that?” And gasps of “Oooh,
that’s so cute!” Followed by “I hope
she gets my name next year.” It’s a
fun tradition and a couple hours of
surprise and delight. Then almost
immediately, names are drawn for
the exchange next year. The thought
is, you take off between Christmas
and New Years, then January 1, you
start working on your gift for next
year’s exchange. At least that’s what
I’m told.
It helps to come from a crafty
family—there’s plenty of knitting,
sewing, baking, weaving, basketry
and lots of “cools things I found
in the woods.” Not to mention my
favorite: woodworking.
The matriarch of the family, my
grandma, loves woodworking. She
has a penchant for barn boards in
particular (going back at least sev-
en decades), and she keeps an am-
ple stash in her shop. I love hearing
her stories about the things she’s
made, where they ended up, how
she got the materials, what went
wrong and the hijinks that hap-
pened along the way. Even though
she’s now well into her 90s and her
doctors have advised against wield-
ing mallets and chisels, she still has
the stories.FROM THE EDITOR
’Tis the
Season
By Andrew Zoellner
For me, that’s one of the best parts
about making things for other people.
It’s not just an object. It’s a vehicle
for sharing and telling a story. It’s a
way to show someone just how much
you care about them.
So I’m looking forward to spend-
ing the next couple months in the
shop, starting my fi nishing up my
gift for the Christmas exchange,
and sharing the experience and tri-
als and tribulations with my family.Some of the presents I’ve received from years past: painting on an offcut by my
grandpa, a pair of Shaker bench brooms (one for everyday use and one for special
occasions) by my uncle, and a 20"-wide barn board from my grandma’s stash.