Woodworker's Journal 2001-25-1, страница 14

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A Woodworker's Dream Inheritance

Bv Joanna Werch Takes

Family Shop Is a Virtual Time Capsule

Next: Museum or Auction?

Most woodworkers are content with their ancestors' furniture. Maybe a couple of tools. Joe Clay Young has a whole shop — and not just any shop. Built in 1901. the Jonesboro Building in northeast Arkansas incorporated a warehouse and lumberyard. It acted as a sawmill and a furniture production facility: "They brought the wood from a tree to a chair or a table," Clay said.

The builders were his greatgrandfather and his great-great-uncle. Barton Lumber Company bought the shop in the 1950s, then shut it down in the early 1980s. It sat empty and unused until Clay

Clay and Pamela Young found so many tools, from so many different eras, that they're having trouble Identifying some.

A live HP BeWalt saw, left, was among the tools Joe Clay Young found in his great-grandfather's shop. A woodworker who examined the shop's contents told Clay and his wife, Pamela, that some of the tools dated back to the 1940s.

A foot pedal rip saw, right, is one of the tools the Youngs want to find out more about.

heard it was for sale. "I knew something special could be done with it." he said. "It's almost like a time capsule." Pamela Young. Clay's wife, added, "Nothing's put away. There's dust and tools lying out. It looks like they just got up and left." After Clay bought the 55,000 foot shop, he brought in some

old woodworkers to check it out. "Their jaws just dropped." he said.

Clay and Pamela are still trying to figure out what some of the tools are. They do know that most of them are complete: "Belts for the sanders are still there; pulleys are in storage; there's an entire wall full of antique-looking clamps," Pamela said.

Now, the question is, what to do with the "inheritance?" Options include using it as a museum or selling the equipment. Clay and Pamela are not woodworkers. "He wanted the building because it was

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