A Woodworking Boone…

Almost all of the doors at the Daniel Boone Home are walnut, milled on-site.

Not far from our farm in Femme Osage, Missouri, is a national historic landmark – the residence of Daniel Boone. When I was little, my mom would take me to see it periodically. The middling human has been there several times now, as well. Even as a kid, I remember gawking at the wood floors and doors and built-in cabinetry, all made using local Missouri black walnut. I suppose even then I had an appreciation for the wood.

Staked Bench – maybe not period? But of the period. And still cool…

The DBH has changed ownership several times over the years. In 2016, it was gifted to St. Charles County by the then-owners, Lindenwood University. It has also grown a lot over the years. In addition to adding an entire village of buildings, including a blacksmith shop, a general store, several homes of varying sizes, a church, a pottery shop, and a wood shop, it now boasts a large and modern pavilion and a properly supplied gift shop.

Something the County started doing that interested me greatly was the addition of monthly artisan events to their event calendars. On any given month, one of the various shops or artisans would be open and available to demonstrate skills or answer questions from visitors.

Middling Human learning about pottery on a kick wheel from Matt Brennecke.

A friend of mine, Matt Brennecke of 33&Burning Tree Studios, is one of the volunteer potters, so I took the middling human along with me during the pottery artisan event. He was pretty excited that got to use a kickwheel, under the supervision of a potter, and get dirty with clay. He has expressed an interest, so he might be getting lessons at some point.

It’s a lot harder than it looks!

We had a good time there, but what I was really looking forward to was the woodworking artisan day, which was scheduled for late June! I was itching to see the inside of the woodshop and get a chance to talk shop with some more handtool woodworkers.

The woodshop at the Daniel Boone Home.

So you can imagine my surprise when I showed up for the woodshop artisan day and found a guy setting up a powered scroll saw! He apologized and said he was a fill-in because the normal volunteers couldn’t make it. We still had a fairly pleasant conversation, but I really wanted to visit with someone who was intimate with hand tool woodworking.

Chatting with my mom later that day, I started complaining about the lack of hand tool woodworkers participating in that event. After a minute, I realized what I needed to do was put my shavings where my mouth was. So I contacted the person in charge of volunteers and told her I wanted in.

We met a few weeks later and discussed the opportunity. I showed her some of my work and discussed my woodworking experience and skill level. And I got approval to be one of the volunteers!

So… on top of the other things I have on my plate, I’ve added “Volunteer Woodworker At The Historic Daniel Boone Home” to the list. My goal is to get into the shop there at least one 8-hour day per month. I think that is do-able. Now I just need to figure out a few things I can make while I’m there! I have some items in mind, but I was also planning on walking through the various buildings on-site to see if there are any period pieces from which I might draw inspiration.

One of the benefits of volunteering there as a hand-tool woodworker is that I get permanent venue in the gift shop for things I make and can likewise sell stuff out of the woodshop when I’m down there working. It was a completely unexpected bonus, but I won’t say no to the opportunity! Time to get business cards made up, as well, I think…

Stay tuned for updates on my volunteer work there in the future. Once I have a schedule and a plan worked out, I’ll be posting times when I will be in the shop working. Anyone in the St. Louis area (or visiting) is welcome to stop by for a visit!

Interior of the woodshop

There IS a Roubo-style bench! It’s a little tall, but usable.

It has a nice leg vise, too!

There is a treadle lathe available, but it needs some fine tuning…