Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 12, 1993 TAG: 9308120377
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: E-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KAREN L. DAVIS SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I grew up on Brumley Mountain in Washington County in a log house. I was born, I think, in 1919. At least that's what my Mama wrote in the Bible.
"We never had much cash money. What we needed, we made ourselves. We didn't have electricity or running water. My daddy made little wooden spoons and little wooden bowls, and we ate out of them."
Morgan pulled a wooden spoon he made from a kitchen drawer.
"Beech is a good wood for wooden utensils. It doesn't absorb moisture, and it doesn't crack when you put it in hot stuff," he said.
Morgan has worked with wood all of his life, yet he finds the terms "hobby" and "craft" offensive when applied to his woodworking efforts.
"A hobby is something rich people do. I've never sold a dough bowl, never sold a basket."
Knowing how to make things out of available natural resources was a necessity in bygone days, Morgan said.
Back when he was growing up, he said, "People didn't have counter tops to knead bread on then. They had a table, but it was seldom as smooth and easy to wash off as a counter top. So people used a dough bowl."
A dough bowl is a smooth, rectangular-shaped wooden tray, dished out in the center like a bowl and used for kneading homemade bread.
Morgan is currently making four dough bowls, one for his wife, Virginia Louise; one for each of his two oldest daughters; and one for a daughter-in-law.
He is also making each of his two grandsons a stool from a cherry tree that once stood in his mother's front yard.
"I'm gonna put a little copper plate on the bottom stating that this wood came from their great-grandmother's house," Morgan said.
One interesting thing about these projects is that he has been carrying the wood around for more than 40 years. The wood he is using for the dough bowls is from a tree he cut down in 1950.
These projects will consume the last pieces of that wood.
"After that, I'm gonna give it up. I'm getting old, and I'm getting tired. And it's time to lay it down and go on to something else," he said.
In his basement workshop, Morgan uses tools from bygone days to fashion the dough bowls. Using old-fashioned tools such as an adz, an inshave and a scorp, he carves and smooths the dough bowls.
Morgan also makes baskets from white oak splits. He makes them the time-honored way, too. First, he cuts down an oak sapling. He splits the sapling's trunk four ways, then eight ways, and peels the bark and sapwood away. The "splits" used to weave the basket are then peeled away in strips.
Morgan said a lot of baskets sold at craft fairs today may be hand-woven, but they usually are made from commercially prepared materials.
"My mama kept the first basket I ever made. She said I was around 8 or 9 years old." Morgan still has that first basket in his basement workshop.
He estimated he has made about a hundred baskets, but, "It's not something I ever thought to count. I mostly made baskets to give away to kin and friends."
Morgan said a good basket could last 100 to 200 years.
Morgan also makes furniture. He has a few of his handmade walnut end tables in his home.
"Walnut and cherry are good to make furniture out of. Most every wood has its own virtue," Morgan said, embarking on a favorite topic.
"You use hickory for ox yokes and wagon axles because it's very strong. Black locust is what you want for pinning timbers together on a barn frame. It's about as close to everlasting as wood gets. It doesn't rot.
"Ash is a slightly flexible wood. It was used for baseball bats before they started making them out of aluminum. The bat that Babe Ruth used was made out of ash. All the good bats were made out of ash because they could take an impact, give a little and spring back," Morgan said.
Aside from woodworking, Morgan has spent 47 years working for the State of Virginia. He is a retired regional administrator for the Department of Youth and Family Services.
Morgan's college education was paid by the Navy. He attended Milligan College in Johnson City, Tenn., Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and the University of Chicago. He is a World War II veteran.
He later went to Hampden-Sydney College in Farmville and eventually earned a master's degree in social work.
"I'm grateful to the government for sending me to school, but inside I'm still that little skinny-legged boy that lived on Brumley Mountain," Morgan said.
As someone who has lived so busy and productive a life, can he really give up woodworking when his projects are completed?
"Well, I've got some apple wood I've carted around for a long time that I haven't decided what to do with yet," he said, pointing to the planks in his basement workshop. "Maybe I'll make some tables."
by CNB