Woodworkers Show Returns Nov. 5-6 Highlighting Wood Harvested Sustainably From Local Forest

Photos courtesy of Tim Lawson

Fine furniture, bowls and decorative pieces by area woodworkers, many of them using wood harvested sustainably from a local forest, will highlight the 2022 Woodworkers Show, which returns for its first in-person show since 2019 at the Port Townsend American Legion Hall Nov. 5-6, 2022. Admission is free.

Co-hosted by the SplinterGroup, an informal collective of local woodworkers, and the Port Townsend School of Woodworking, the annual show will feature more than 20 booths displaying work by local craftspersons.

Many of the pieces on display will be made from wood harvested in Valley View Forest in Chimacum on property owned and managed by the Jefferson Land Trust. The Land Trust donated two trees to the SplinterGroup –  a Big Leaf Western Maple and a Red Alder – as part of a program to give trees to 16 local nonprofit, education, community, and tribal partners to use in support of their missions.

“The Woodworkers Show is the place to see the depth of woodworking talent that we have in Port Townsend,” said Tim Lawson, a member of the SplinterGroup, and also a founder of the Port Townsend School of Woodworking and a Jefferson Land Trust board member. “One of the things I love about the Show is you get to meet a whole bunch of people who have a common passion, and the visitors bring their own curiosity and excitement about what they’re going to see.”

The donated trees were felled in December, and were selected because they were nearing the end of their natural life span, according to the Land Trust.

After the trees were felled, some of the wood was milled onsite at Valley View. Members of the Strait Turners Woodturning Club gathered branches from both trees, with the plan to use some as training wood in their classes, share more with members of the group, and display pieces made from the wood at the Show. The Seattle Spoon Club also came to collect material from the two trees to carve into spoons and bowls that will also be on display. Branches and greenery not collected were left to enrich the soil and provide habitat in the forest.

Cody Wayland of Wayland Constructive completed the milling at his local sawmill in Port Townsend, and some of the wood went into his dehumidification kiln for several months. The milled and kiln-dried wood was then offered to local and regional makers interested in using it to make a piece or pieces for the 2022 Show.

“Harvesting wood from a forest managed with the mission and foresight of a nonprofit like Jefferson Land Trust makes sense,” said Wayland, who is also a PTSW instructor. “It’s on a much smaller scale and — without the clearcutting, excessive and repetitive long-distance trucking, and use of plastic wrap — has less of an impact and a much smaller carbon footprint.”

Lawson said he hopes that featuring the wood will highlight the possibilities of creating a market for locally harvested community forest lumber for local craftspeople, and will also challenge makers to conserve by using all parts of the trees that were harvested.

“Buying products made with local wood, by local artisans also keeps money in our economy,” he said. “It’s just like local food. If we can keep the wood local, rather than exporting it — fell the log, mill it, and kiln it right here, and give local artisans the chance to work with it — we can all reap the benefits of that tree by making value-added products right here in our community. The more we can build up a local wood economy, the better.”

Show hours are Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 6, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

For more information about the Port Townsend School of Woodworking, which is now accepting registration for 2023 classes, go to www.ptwoodschool.org. For more information about the SplinterGroup, go to www.splintergroup.org. 

The Jefferson Land Trust is a local, nonprofit land conservation organization dedicated to preserving the rural character and iconic landscapes of Jefferson County. For more information, go to www.saveland.org.