Gypsy Road Trip

Heritage furniture has become a passion for Jason Hammond of Yellowleaf Wood Crafts in Zanesville. He loves history, restoring old tools, and paddling old canoes.

Demonstrating his use of traditional hand tools attracts visitors at the Salt Fork Festival where Jason will again be in the Heritage Arts Tent August 9-11 this year.

Here he explains to visitors what woodworkers went through 150 years ago. Manpower, sweat, and tears were necessary for even a simple piece of furniture. Each step of the process took hours compared to minutes today.

During 1800-1850, there were eight small shops in Guernsey County where furniture was made by one to five men, often in someone’s home. It was difficult and expensive for those early settlers to move furniture with them. Builders used the wood available to create needed furniture. so cherry, maple, and walnut replaced the mahogany used for heirloom furniture in the east.

Jason’s interest in woodworking began when he was a child while watching “The Woodwright’s Shop” on PBS with his dad, who was interested in the historical aspect of various things. That show explained how to use tools from the past.

High School shop was his first experience at woodworking. There he made simple things like a bookshelf and a pen holder for his mom. At home, he experimented with walking sticks and arrows for his bow.

Gradually, he began collecting hand tools, that were broken and needed to be fixed, at flea markets or tool dealers online. Today he uses both traditional hand tools and modern machinery to create his heirloom pieces, which include bookcases, tables, blanket chests, toy boxes, and wood carvings.

However, you can tell what he enjoys the most when he commented, “I do think that learning and developing hand tool skills in woodworking and the decorative arts is essential in doing quality work. There are times when machines can only take you so far. It’s the skill and confidence in handwork that can take you the rest of the way.”

Always being interested in history, when Jason was thinking of a name for his business, he received an idea from a line in a Longfellow poem, “The Song of Hiawatha.” When Hiawatha described the canoe he built, the last line reads, “and it shall float upon the river like a yellow leaf in autumn, like a yellow waterlily.” Yellowleaf Wood Crafts seemed a logical choice.

At the present time, he also works at the Zanesville Art Gallery where he helps with setting up exhibits and repairing or building things. Some of his smaller pieces are also available in their Gift Shop.

His work can also be seen today at Elk’s Eye Endeavors in downtown Zanesville. There he displays smaller items such as accent tables, chests, and Shaker oval boxes. The Shakers religious group used those boxes to ship their seeds, as a sewing box, or even a spittoon. Jason remarked, “It was the cardboard box of its time.”

Bending the wood for these boxes required them to use steam heat and boiling water. Then the wood is bent around a form. This process was also used by the American Indians to form their canoes and snowshoes.

Speaking of canoes, Jason has won several awards for his restoration of old canoes. At the Antique Boat & Canoe Classic Show, he has won the Best Nonpowered Class in three shows for cedar and canvas canoe restoration. When he has extra time, relaxing on the water in his canoe or taking a hike in nature are his favorite activities.

He takes great pleasure in reaching the finishing line on a project. After he has researched the history, drawn the plan, and selected the wood, putting on the finish and seeing the texture of the wood come to life is his vision coming to fruition.

Restoring furniture to its heirloom state gives him pleasure as well. Often he has to re-engineer a piece to make it more functional. For example, a rocking chair might need its rockers adjusted to keep it from tipping

He is very proud of a large display case he constructed for the South Zanesville Volunteer Fire Department to honor a fire chief who passed suddenly. The cabinet is tall enough to hold the entire turnout gear of the chief from boots to helmet.

Contact Jason at Yellowleaf Wood Crafts on Facebook or Instagram at yellowleafwoodcrafts. If you are interested in a commissioned piece, email him at jasonhammond1416@gmail.com. He has special pieces for sale at Elk’s Eye Endeavors in Zanesville as well as in the gift shop at the Zanesville Art Museum.

When talking about the craftsmen at the festivals, Jason feels, “There is a resurgence of handwork in this country. There are people who are taking up weaving, pottery, basket making, carving, etc. again. They want to produce something that has the slight imperfections that only the human touch can make. The creativity of doing such work gives satisfaction and a sense of accomplishing something that is lacking in this day and age.”

Visit Jason at the Heritage Arts Tent at the Salt Fork Festival in Cambridge on August 9-11 or at Zane Trace Commemoration in Zanesville where he demonstrates his use of traditional tools for woodworking. You are sure to enjoy listening to his stories as you watch him work.