Woodworking a ‘mystical’ experience – Brattleboro Reformer

By Bob Audette, Brattleboro Reformer

BRATTLEBORO — Woodworking is a relatively solitary practice for many craftspeople. The stereotypical woodworker labors alone in a home shop filled with tools particular to his or her trade. It’s only when they have finished shaving and sanding and gluing and have applied the final coat of varnish or lacquer that they unveil their work to the public.

And while many local woodworkers prefer the seclusion of their workshop, others want to spend some time with like-minded folk, sharing anecdotes about a particular job or discussing different techniques with their own little advantages.

“There are times I want to be in my own space,” said Doug Cox, while shaping a violin at the HatchSpace on Frost Street in downtown Brattleboro. “There are things I can only do when I am in my own space. But there are times I like having people look over my shoulder and being able to chat while I work.”

Cox, who was working on his one-thousandth-and-one violin on Wednesday, is the first “Craftsman in Residence” at the HatchSpace, a woodworking collaborative recently opened by Tom Bodett and Greg Goodman in an airy former warehouse on Frost Street.

“We are now at 40 members,” said Bodett. “Our goal for the first year is 50 and we are only four months in.”

Bodett, who is known as the pitchman for Motel 6 and his appearances on NPR’s “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me,” has been working with wood for many years, producing creations he often gifts to family members or friends.

But Bodett wanted to do more than while away the hours in his home work shop — he also wanted to hang out with men and women who like to work with wood in a space where they can learn from each other.

“What Doug is doing is our core mission,” said Bodett. “Which is to instill a respect for the work of human hands and the lives behind them.”

Cox, who Bodett described as “one of the nation’s foremost craftsmen,” began his career making violins in the 1960s, when he received his early training at the State Violin Making School in Mittenwald, Germany. He spent 10 years as head of the repair department and chief restorer for the firm of J. Bradley Taylor, Inc. in Boston, before moving to southern Vermont in the early 1980s after his wife, Lisa, took a job at the Putney School.

Eventually, they settled on Sunset Lake Road, where Cox has been hand-making his violins ever since. And though it doesn’t appear he plans to quit anytime soon, the thought of working in a collaborative space such as at the HatchSpace was intriguing to him.

“Wood workers in general tend to be pretty solitary,” he said. “It’s what we do to get away from people. Even though I consider myself a cooperative person, it hadn’t really occurred to me to work in a space like this.”

Bodett approached Cox about being the HatchSpace’s first Craftsman in Residence and Cox said he thought it was a great idea.

“Having a space where people can do wood work together leads to personal physical and mental health and community health,” Cox said.

Cox said he also has a personal reason separate from his career for exploring a collaborative work space. As he and Lisa are getting older, they are thinking about what it might be like to find a place in downtown Brattleboro.

“The idea of living in town and being able to walk to places to socialize is appealing,” he said.

But for now, Cox is carving and bending a piece of maple wood Bodett handed him one day.

“This is a pretty spectacular piece of maple that I am using,” he said.

Bodett said he has his own reasons for inviting Cox to be the HatchSpace’s first Craftsman in Residence.

“Having Doug here is like being in the presence of a living museum,” said Bodett. “The way he goes about his work … it’s riveting to watch.”

Article Continues After These Ads

Goodman, who is a cabinet maker by trade, is documenting each step Cox takes in making a violin, but it’s not easy.

“I turn my back on him and he’s already done some cool step and I’ve missed it,” said Goodman. Fortunately, he said, Cox will be in residence for several more weeks, so Goodman will have a number of opportunities to document the process.

Goodman was also distracted on Wednesday because he was helping a group of kids from the Brattleboro Boys and Girls Club build their own skate boards from scratch.

“They are learning skills that can be applied to any kind of work,” said Goodman. “Stay focused and put down your phone.”

While none of the kids might go on to become a woodworker, said Goodman, “This teaches them how to see the results of their own work and that they have agency in the world.”

Goodman and Bodett hope to continue to offer skate board workshops to the kids as well as develop a more formal program with the Windham Regional Career Center.

Chapman said in the HatchSpace, they have a handful of three-hour workshops coming up, including project design on July 20, fundamentals of the table saw on July 25 and band saw techniques on July 27. Classes are open to the public and no experience is necessary.

After Cox finishes up his residency, the HatchSpace is offering a couple of very special classes. The first is with Graeme King, of Graeme King Hull Design, and Wade Smith, of Mill Hollow Works, who will be leading a class on how to build a rowing shell. Also on tap is Westminster cabinet maker Gail Grycel, who has been offering woodworking classes for women in her shop in Westminster for several years.

Cox said he is excited to be involved in the nascent phase of this new collaborative.

“A solo maker really needs collegial support and encouragement and even competition to do his or her best work,” he said. “And in any kind of woodworking, there are lots of different solutions to problems. Being able to share that experience is good for everybody.”

“Doug is a world-class instrument maker,” said Bodett. “You can go over and sit down next to him, ask questions. That’s access you can’t find anywhere.”

Bodett said the HatchSpace has a secondary mission of recording history and techniques that might be lost if someone doesn’t take the time to document them.

“These old master craftspeople are not going to be around forever,” he said.

“We are finding that there is a lot of interest from an aging generation who want to see their knowledge recognized and preserved,” said Goodman.

Cox said he’s happy to share his knowledge about his craft in the hopes it might spark some interest in the younger generation. Although violins handmade by Cox sell for $22,000 and violas for $25,000, he’s been at it for nearly 40 years and it still takes 100 to 120 hours to make each instrument.

“I certainly wouldn’t encourage people to pursue violin making or any other kind of woodworking because they seem like a good way to make a living,” said Cox. “But if this is what you want to do, it’s not unreasonable to figure out how to do it and make a good living, send your kids to college and put money away for retirement while enjoying the good things that an affluent society offers.”

And hand crafting a fine musical instrument that can last for hundreds of years is more than just about making a living.

“It becomes magical, if not mystical,” said Cox.

For more information on classes and workshops at the HatchSpace, visit hathcspace.org or email info@hatchspace.org.

Bob Audette can be contacted at 802-254-2311, ext. 151, or raudette@reformer.com.

If you’d like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please
email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by
filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.