D.R. Dimes was one of those famous furniture making companies that was so ubiquitous that you couldn’t imagine it ever going out of business. But it did.
What I didn’t know is that it has recently been reborn as a one-person shop run by Douglas P. Dimes, the son of the founder.
The story of the Dimes workshop is a fascinating read, from its rise after the 1976 bicentennial to its closing in 2017 as the market for so-called “brown furniture” bottomed out.
Like many owners of a small business, I worry about growing too fast, or the market disappearing (probably because of something I did or failed to do). It’s also a reminder that if you were born to build furniture, it’s always a sound path. Even if you are the one and only employee.
While I was teaching a chairmaking class at the Woodworking School at Pinecroft last week, school manager Katie Bister offered to plait the handle of my Exeter hammer with the woody stalks of broom corn.
Katie is a multi-talented craftsperson in fiber arts and woodworking, so I immediately said yes. I offered her a Crucible brass center square in trade. Plaiting is similar to braiding. Many times it is decorative, though it can be used to strengthen the area of a broom where the handle intersects the head, Bister says.
In this case, the plaiting adds some grip to the hammer handle, which is nice. You can see Bister’s plaiting work all over the shop at Pine Croft, including the handles on one of the tool cabinets.
The plaiting process took 23 minutes, according to the time codes on my photos. Here’s what it looks like.
Rob Spiece, director of Woodcraft, shows off the Dulci-Matic.
Like most Kentuckians, I’ve long been buying brooms and other crafts made by students working for Berea College Student Craft. The students aren’t craft majors. Instead they work for Berea Student Craft as part of their work requirement at the college (which does not charge tuition).
And I’ve visited the Berea Student Craft department a dozen times in the last 20 years. But this year, things were a bit different.
After teaching a chairmaking class at the Woodworking School at Pine Croft (run by Berea Student Craft) the students and I took a tour of the department led by Aaron Beale, associate vice president of student craft.
During the last few years, Berea Student Craft has altered direction. Instead of making traditional Appalachian crafts to sell to the public, the crafts are now designed by the students and reflect the eight “Great Commitments” of Berea College in some way, Beale says.
Aaron Beale in Broomcraft.
Example: the Chaos Tote Bag was designed by Dylan Heil to use up surplus yarn. The pattern woven by the students doesn’t repeat for a long time, so each tote is unique. And the bag reflects the college’s commitment to sustainability.
And this doesn’t mean that Berea Student Craft has turned its back on Appalachia. Quite the opposite. One the school’s eight Great Commitments is to support Appalachia. So the wood comes from its great forest; the forms of brooms (such as the turkey wing) are traditional. But the ideas look to the future.
The Community Basket is a good example of this. It’s inspired by Shaker oval boxes, but the bent bands have been staggered and arranged as a basket with some fascinating negative space. And the Dustpan and Broom set (which we love) hit the same chords.
Most of the photos I took were in Broomcraft (I love brooms, and I love a clean shop). The Berea brooms are the best I’ve ever owned, and I own a lot of brooms. They are worlds better than the inexpensive brooms from overseas. And they are well-priced compared to brooms made by individual artisans. (Order some; you won’t be disappointed.)
I found the whole thing so inspiring that I think you will see a Lost Art Press book that embraces one of the new (and amazing) objects at Berea Student Craft.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. If you haven’t been to Berea in a while, it is time to go back. The town now has alcohol, and the restaurants have gotten very good. Plus the Boone Tavern and its restaurant, Crafted, have been renovated and are world class. Honestly, a weekend there is just what the doctor ordered.
The Mid-West Tool Collector’s Association (mwtca.org) printed up a nice profile of us in their March issue of The Gristmill. Editor Jay Whittington drove here for a visit (along with his wife) and we talked for most of a day about the craft, tools and how to get them in the hands of the next generation.
The article is a whopping eight pages long and features some nice photos of our buildings, workshop, storefront and fulfillment center. Plus, my blather!
During the last couple years I’ve returned to the membership rolls of the M-WTCA. I had been a member for more than a decade. Then, during the pandemic, I let my membership lapse (as well as my personal hygiene).
I’m so happy to be back. And during my absence, the M-WTCA has taken on lots of younger members and has upgraded The Gristmill’s paper, design and content. Whittington and a lot of the new members are trying to focus on using old tools as much as collecting them.
YouTuber James Wright epitomizes the drive of this younger generation. If you want a taste of life in the organization, then you should absolutely follow his Instagram feed. He attends a lot of the meetings and posts mouthwatering videos of the tools on display and for sale at the meetings.
I’ve missed those meetings. The coffee, the donuts and the tailgating. I hope I can find the time to attend some of the regional meetings near us this year.
If you dislike buying tools on eBay, joining M-WTCA is the best solution. The members of the club sell user tools at extremely fair prices. And you get to pick up 100 or 300 smoothing planes to find the one that speaks to you.
Saint Maud’s – a community workshop in northern Wisconsin – just started a 38-week course for 4-H kids to build the armchair in “Build a Chair from Bulls%$t.” Check out the first video here.
They’ll be posting videos on Instagram of the kids as they build their chairs. We’re going to follow along. You can, too. Here’s their Instagram feed. And their Facebook page.
The public workshop resides in a decommissioned Catholic church (hence the “saint” part). And the “Maud?” That was the name of a beloved family dog. (It’s not a religious school. I don’t even know if there is a Saint Maud….)
It’s a great little organization. In addition to the public workshop, they operate a “Sloyd Bus” that travels to surrounding communities to spread the love of handwork to kids. Read more about the Sloyd Bus here.
The workshop was started by Karl and Charlie Zinsmaster in 2022. Charlie (the father) is a long-time community leader. Karl (the son) has a degree in furniture design and worked in New York City and Minnesota before returning home to start the workshop.
We’re all thrilled to see this. The book (which is free to download) is supposed to make chairmaking accessible to anyone with basic tools and home center materials. We can’t wait to see the chairs come together during the coming weeks.
