CRAFTSMAN ENJOYS CHALLENGE OF WOODWORKING

Salzamann designed and built his office on South Union Street in Jackson.

The "Karpenter's Troll", a purple eyed, white bearded magical helper watches over Dr. D. Warren Salzmann as he custom crafts hardwood into satin-finished art.

Salzmann affectionately points to the troll, "One of my children sent me the troll. I've taken him on as my mascot. Those purple beady eyes remind me of the magic in the wood. Wood is fickle. It's hard to work with because it expands and contracts. No two pieces are alike."

Salzmann has been working with wood throughout his lifetime.

"My father was a carpenter and my uncles are carpenters and wood workers," he said. "My son is a carpenter. I guess it's hereditary."

He has a lifelong love of working with hardwoods of all varieties -- walnut, ash, oak and poplar. This love has culminated in a new, second career producing beautiful, hardwood tables, bowls, cutting boards and other items for use in the kitchen or just for show.

Woodworking lies within everyone's reach. Everyone knows what a saw, chisel or a plane looks like and at least roughly what they do. At some stage, most people have tried working with wood. Some go no further. However, there are those like Salzmann who enjoy woodwork and want to develop their skills.

Enjoyment is probably too mild a word for the intense pleasure of a job that is going really well. All woodworkers know it and it forms a powerful incentive to improve -- although higher skills generate higher standards. Nevertheless, the difference between the beginning woodworker and the complete craftsman is, as a rule, only one of degree. As the years have progressed Salzmann has progressed from beginner to craftsman.

Salzmann has an affinity for designing original architecture as well as woodcrafting. His chiropractic practice was opened in 1958 in Jackson in the Nabert Building but the doctor later designed and built his own clinic on South Union Street. Today, Salzmann designs all of his tables and bowls. He says he never knows exactly how something will turn out.

As Salzmann designs and creates, the rough wood is transformed into works of real art. Many of Salzmann's bowls are laminated -- that is, they are made of layers of different wood varieties which are glued into decorative patterns.

"One of my bowls is oak, maple, cherry and nectarine," said Salzmann. "I got the nectarine wood from two nectarine trees in my back yard. They weren't producing so I cut them down and now I use them in my woodcraft."

In his book "Woodworking School," Peter Collenette states that there are three rules which apply in woodworking. First, know what you are doing. Second, strive for real accuracy and third keep your tools as sharp as you possibly can.

Salzmann adheres to all three. The local craftsman is familiar with his tools, although they aren't always as sharp as he would like them to be. While cupping out a bowl, he notes that one tool is too dull and gouges, scrapes and scratches the wood.

His workshop is loaded from floor to ceiling with tools of all sorts. Nearly 18 different hammers and a wide variety of circular saw blades and hand tools are scattered on each table. Salzmann recognizes one of the drawbacks of woodworking -- ample sawdust -- but has tried to remedy the problem with sawdust vacuums located in at least three places in the workshop, along with an upright vacuum which can be maneuvered into every crack and corner.

Today's woodworker does have the advantages of power tools for his craft but the heritage of the craft is centuries old and finds its roots in the place and time in which wood was plentiful.

In Medieval times, woodworkers relied on a single basic material -- local timber. In temperate western Europe, oak and similar hardwoods were used for buildings and furniture alike. The furniture was massive and simple, largely taking the form of tables, benches and chests. These were held together by heavy joints, wooden pegs or a combination of the two. But most tools were not so very different from the hand tools which are used today -- saws, chisels, wooden planes and auger drills.

The 17th, 18th and 19th centuries in England saw replacement of oak, first by walnut and then by mahogany, as the most favored timber, plus countless developments in style and decoration.

Today woodworking adds beauty to the art through new polyurethane finishes developed for luster as well as durability.

Some of Salzmann's tables have as many as six coats of finish, along with coats of tung oil and polyurethane and ample rubbings with fine grade steel wool.

On the joy of woodworking, Salzmann says, "I enjoy the camaraderie of woodworking. Everyone shares hints and their discoveries. I've never had a teacher but I've always learned from other woodworkers.

"There's a great friendship between woodworkers," he explains. "I'm glad to be part of that society."