Gordon Reid, Chapel Arm Woodcrafts, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Hi how are you we're from newand uh Canada uh it's Chapel arm in Trinity Bay very beautiful place take it in our Sawmill where I'm working on a little few little projects [Applause] here small boat here I'm I'm designing a small boat here uh she's 11' 6 I'm going to fire glass the boat I'm going to make a mole out of it and it's going to be like a rowboat and um I'm going to use it as a mole I'm going to fiberglass the mole and I'm going to pop it out there is a little project that I'm working on I started at about a couple of months ago all the Ducks got to line up before you get things done there some of the stuff you got to work on before and you got to get things done right so we got a we have a Norwood sill that's been on our site for uh this has been about uh 24 years here now is a very important part of our tool we get uh of what we do here we get logs from different parts of Newan and we make our product out of it Wood stock different sizes of wood stock and without this two we wouldn't exist very important most for the storage area here we have a small K there I fire up my small k at time when I got enough stock there and for a little bit of stuff we do on the side there we have like a little greenhouse on the end here we're experimenting with growing tomatoes uh cabbages I love of this stuff is the most exciting part of my day is coming in the morning and seeing this stuff see how it went overnight but it's so slow that you need to takes days sometimes for it to uh come to life right were you born here oh yes born in chavel my wife is just down the road a bit closer there yep so why do you like wood uh that's a good question you know yeah I don't know I guess we grow up it's all around you here it's got so many uses right it's free it's kind of free here right so many different things you can do with it um design and things is I love doing different things uh don't get enough time to do I like to be in there every day and just doing something different every day but you need to pay the bills there or try to pay some of the bills there and so you got to do repetitive things so that's some of the stuff we do I'll take you in my shop there and we'll show you around there [Applause] like a storage area for wood here got different kind types of round stock here we're here all year around yet some more wood stock there place we have set up there uh working on a little job here for for someone in the area here do you have a preferred item to make um not really something that's different uh I love wood turning I love that wood doing stuff with with turning because we do a lot of stuff on that on that LA right and uh trees is working on the stain there now that's a stain for the for a customer right there piece of raw wood there she we she got she going to try to stain it for you looks like a nice stain nice deep stain see what El like down that stuff [Music] TR this is a solid piece of wood here and this a lamination so it's going to show up different right but show the character [Music] [Music] [Music] differently some different products are made there there a miniature Cannon you see a big one outside there in our shop but this one is not is not fully on there we do a lot of different uh craft items the second cold is going to bring it a bit darker in it so how many coats stain the more coat you put on the darker it'll get but maybe two two or three Chas is very good at putting D stain you didn't go byter color on the can either all right that was how dry it only right no takes six to eight hours dry and after it dries clear coat got a clear coat she'll probably put five coats of water B finish on that each coat she sand in between gos it's done by hand when it's finished uh people will look at and say how do you what type of spray system did you use okay but cheese so good at it that cheese yeah takes a lot of patience oh yeah see to have me she needs L patience J yeah what about the cannon do you need to put something on it as well no it's not ready it's not ready more parts to it I'll show you a big one out there okay we do there that's like a big can we do there it's just a display model right now but we make that that's a small one in there's it's like three times the big there so we do them in different color finishes like that can Barrel there uh or the red but right now we have none in busier time the year they we one here right now that's a in gr jiper or very nice wood so how do you choose your wood if it's free I like free wood right so that's very important uh it depends on what the customer Loc before but I try to stick with everything new for land that's what we try to do here yeah you'll see some exotic wood use as a to enhance a product sometimes but generally we use mostly all Newan wood have you done that uh those bats were made by tesa's father dear I guess that's where she gets her patients um he was a 92 years old and he had a lifetime of doing all on of boats uh that was a later boat he done later in his life there and de dear boats of dear dear Soul there so yeah he was a master boat builder for sure her father was all images here I I use the images of new land in a lot of our stuff in her circles and that kind of stuff I find it I find them I just just like doing Newan images and uh I put it into a lot of our stuff yeah we don't have a a few years back we done a lot of all the Craft part of our business before Co before Co hit has all we done was most of it was crafts we were supplying stores uh all across Newan uh some in Atlantic Canada done quite a few craft fears done a one-of aind showing in in downtown Ontario this booth was actually there at that particular show it was our first time kind of a away there it don't quite well there how is it now Co kind of killed a lot of things there and we had to uh we had to adapt I guess to stay here when Co hit had uh all anybody who was buying our stuff before uh they would well they they weren't allowed to operate no more um stores uh most of the stores said they don't they W they weren't going to be ordering nothing for a couple of years and uh we had to I had some family members who were doing building a house at the same time and U funds from that like I built the kitchens and uh bathroom vanities and all these pieces and uh it kept us alive during Co these Co years and when Co was over kind of I don't know if it's really over yet but it's uh we're not getting the visitors before Co we were getting a lot of visitors to our shop and we don't get that type of uh visiting now and we've adjusted to our our business so we're doing more furniture pieces um uh custom woodworking uh kitchens in the last couple of years we do one kitchen at a time so last couple years we've done like six or eight kitchens and it's kept us alive here for sure this is this all the wood stuff in here is our is our wood turning here right yeah there a piece of U as a is we have we have um say Birch burls here uh that's bows and this is kind of a stuff I I know most of those are gone right now those will be barrels of a tree you know you're very popular there yep the Su trees is there work here she gets uh we we go out in the boat there and we GA gather rock rocks on the beach and she and she do these pizzas she's she's really good out of there so she did that praise pza did yeah so Tracy is an artist oh my God she's a pure yeah she's good she's uh I wouldn't exist here where Tracer there a bur burel I drift with there look there a Driftwood burel there there some uh whale bones We Gather from the beach local Beach got a lot of these whale Bones on it from a long time ago um Driftwood pieces there this contains a lot of wormwood there look some of worm wood I got a lot of drift wood here uh a local person uh AO and Val War there um they would they would pick up a be they would gather this stuff during the year drop it off here some pieces here a our projects here are our more custom stuff right I can get to do a couple of kitchens here this year and uh some custom pieces we still see see a few people in here but not like we not like we used to I'm not sure what type of Rocket is from the internet I can see is called a concretion and the form in sedimentary rocks but on our beach here in Chapel arm um those are you going I just walked on the beach and found this one so I don't know I don't know where you all the history of it this is a little boat that last winter Whenever there was a storm on the go I couldn't get up here in my shop I bought my scroll saw over and um I'm I'm designing a boat here a catamaran small catamaran I'll call it that uh I'm going to be able to I'm going to build it in full size of it that's my plan is to build a full size one somewhere around 21 ft so where in your shop back here in back here in my Sal y hopefully this winter I'm going to take on something something bigger like this we two love on love in the water or in the ocean there and there's lots of fish out there yeah fish are finally starting to come back here I believe what is your favorite wood my favorite wood would be uh wood chisel we call it around here it's um to make like a lot of different things with it a lot of my stuff here is I would call it wood chis a local local product I bought it off different people gather some myself but most of it is a Jer is very nice too that's a local local wood there look that's very nice wood um that's a Japanese Larch I think is a modified come from the compartment of Forestry it's a modified Juniper species that grow very quickly how can people find you um but we we try to hide away almost we try to hide away as a piece of U as a piece of that wood I was just telling you then look is a piece of Japanese Larch we got a crib board made out of it so um as people want want to find us you got to come look for us now we're kind of keeping things simple here we're trying to keep things simple now right you got to look for us and you got to find us you got to come to Newan that's where we're do when do you plan to finish the boat the boat this winter if all the duck lines up this winter I'm going to start building a boat this is not I built five models I don't like that one so much but I got one over my house the one that I'm going to be building and it's it's a 2 in ler and that little bit different design every boat I done I design it a little bit different they're not going to the wheelers probably going to be different on it and everything right but it's a it's a nice boat that you can get in a theet with has a piece of uh wood chisel there what I call it it's got some spotl Dr very nice I love that some different things we do for those are those are ears right uh this ear I've been made a few of them I don't advertise I do a lot of them but this is an ear here that uh resembl waves and an ocean look that's what that's what it resembles to me and my my my U young life I was uh I spent 15 years on the ocean so I'm planning on I plan but I think maybe that's my ear right there waves in an ocean there do a lot of u i Supply her wood the sign boards and she freehand this it by hand we don't do nothing by Machine Teresa is like a machine herself and she she write these things on there do some work on them and I'll just I'll just drop a r down them and R my my job is pretty simple but she does she does the hair work yeah Tracy's here all the time working in the shop trac's here yeah trees is here pretty regular yep when you open yourself up to the world too it um you get so much stuff so much stuff coming on on the phone there Wee's rattled we kind of be we we try to keep life simple but we rattling with it that much stuff coming in and this so many there's so many people out there that are trying to to trying to scam you all the time it's hard to hard to find like that kind of thing hard to deal with all that some pieces tra I got made there it's all made from Birch Park yeah we've gotten into bagging up our dry sawas we don't make a lot of money off of as uh uh but we uh people use it for their hins uh backyard farmers are pretty big right now in newand people are always looking for a source for uh for for shavings and that kind of stuff so we usually put some out here instead of troll it on the back of the shop there to make it easier for people to access it there yeah only couple bucks a bag so most of the all dry there we give away quite a bit of saus but it's like it's nice to make something off it right too helps to pay for some things for sure I guess when we were trying to be VI more visible we had these signs on the highway right and they were quite eye-catching as you can see was they were made by a graphic artist up on the beon peninsula in New land here you're done a fascinating job on the signs there and they will drag down a lot of tourists for sure because you only got to look at them they're very nice the they lasted around 15 years there but we may refurbish them put them back up who knows we needs an injection of young blood here I'd say we're too old deep sea fisherman a fish of all the new land PS I started in 197 76 is a very young person around 17 years old some pictures of me there and some of my mates there my first Drager there first Bol I was in was called the the grand Baron there was the first trip we ever made on on a bat 19776 yeah yes not for everybody out there very nice day there but uh I remember to be up on this boat in the in 4:00 in the morning the boat was loaded down with ice and we had to U beat ice off this boat to keep it Al flat and uh I'm not a religious person but it's times I prayed to the Lord that I I got in out of it I did nasty out there uh you can go out on the grand banks on a Biscuit in the summertime right it's pretty pretty you can see there look it's beautiful out there but I don't have no really rough looking vid B pictures of the sea how many years I was 15 years as a dragon man I figured I was going to be around my life but uh that's some Skippers here as a friend as a as my first mate was from a SIM and he was from uh um he was from Quebec but he moved to to uh to Fortune a grand Bank in newand been quite quite a bit of while when I'm there yeah I was very lucky that I was a young person and I was around so many many professionals cuz that's why these people are are professionals um people don't like the offshore dagers much but u a lot of these lot of the fish that you get offshore they don't come up in the Bas here you got to go out there and get them yeah there's a skipper here used to pick me up on the up at the top of the myself there and another guy John Ben how many boats did you work on um my first 10 years I was on U just two boats because we were on that we were with with the same crew and the L later part of my life I moved I moved from this my comfort zone I call it and went went started going with different boats and different Crews all over new land there what is your most cherished memory a fishing at a boat yes just the people you just the people I guess you're with I like that boat that was 1976 1977 there we got a myself there my young days Peter have you been in a storm oh my God yeah lots of them too many too we were out coming up from down North and and um we stayed in on our back of Island that night until we will see see the conditions improve enough to go all around new land there it's nasty but um you don't have to be it could be a storm in here and out there is the best kind right or if people could be here and out there is just not fit for a human to be out there right what do you miss about fishing the grub the food used and bringing home fish right we get more fish to bring home it was a bit fresh cfish fresh halot um you don't miss being out there on bad windy days so that's a that's a nice day to be out there like I we would say right but you're always away from home right you're gone from 12 13 days at a time and your home for 48 hours so it's not a lot of fun there right so Tracy was on her own Tracy was on her own looking after two kids y has seals there way too many seals there know seals are consuming SE the seals are eating us out of all the bait fish and it's affecting everything in our environment and it's a skipper there cook yeah some memers there that are no longer with us the first boat the longest boat more I was on to was called the FES and it's a community community up around trapac that way before you get up there up St John's there that way and we us to land there on did they called a boat after for me was up there I think someone might have own it from up that way do you have a name for the boat in your shop uh the boat that I got back there um I haven't got a name on that boat yet I built a boat um I don't it's over to my house I built a boat I called it after my granddaughter who was her name is London so I'm thinking about if I build a big one I like kind the U I always looked at bolts as being called after women right after ladies right so I called my first boat a London Lily that's what I called her so when I build a bigger one my my Planet still to call her the lond and Lily too so that's a grand that this boat here now is a grand Baron my my first boat that I was on and the skipper is still alive and I I see him on NTV news whenever his birthday comes around right his name is gari Cox he was a master master fish Fisher person right very good very nice sker yeah so how far did you go on the on the on the boats yes the boats went all all over all around Newland right and we we started fishing the second of January and we that was a time frame we could get called the 2nd of January to go out and we be gone we be gone for 12 days and u 10 or 12 days and when we come in we would stop in a fish plant and we would keep probably we'd have 200,000 of fish on board uh I think fishery products had probably 65 bolts at one time and we kept I don't know 30 40,000 workers in Newland alive by by being out there and under pretty difficult conditions actually a bunch of seals back then Way Way Back Then There was huge quantity of seals there and uh they come up and they take fish right at the bag there ready was a huge amount of them so they're really out to control now I don't see if you see Captain strawberry St this guy I was with for maybe eight eight or 10 years so when were you the last time on a fishing boat last last trip was I think it's somewhere in 1990 my he's he's not there he's not visible cuz he's up there I was U like everything you work your way up I took nautical science in the Fisheries college but I never I didn't want to become say a skipper or nothing is just is U I didn't want the responsibility of U of of having 13 men to worry about there I was I was very glad to be a deck hand I was Boling on the boolt for years I was icer whatever I want to be uh relieved the skipper whatever whenever he po his job was to make sure you knew everything on that net there this is the skipper off off my boat earn the Strawbridge I was with this guy for about 10 years he picked me up on a just right up here on the Trans Canada and the chief engineer and it was really a comfort zone where where this guy would pick me up and drop me off and and he was he was a very good Fisher person very good Skipper and he uh he had respect for the ocean and um safety was important with him yeah I miss them all e for