Diversified Pieces Showcase Woodworkerâs Artistic Talents Allan Walton of Boothbay Harbor, ME, incorporates his eclectic skills to produce high-end woodwork that âno one else does.â By Helen Kuhl Flipping through Allan Waltonâs portfolio, just like speaking to him about his work, can be a confusing experience. It includes everything from pure artwork, in the watercolors he created and sold through galleries for four years, to straightforward, high-quality kitchens, to unique furniture pieces and millwork. And that doesnât even include the boat work. That diversification in skills and interests has served Walton well for the past 20 years, not only because it helped him survive economically, but also because it built a reputation for him as a man who can do anything. That reputation brought him a loyal, steady clientele that requires top-notch work and does not have to ask about price. Walton credits his upbringing in rural Maine as contributing to his wide range of talents. âBeing independent was stressed very highly. So I learned a lot of skills from both my mother and father,â he says. âThey were self-sufficient people. If you wanted a house, you built it yourself. My mother would say, âYou have to know how to cook,â and my father would say, âYou have to know how to change a spark plug or hang a door or whatever.â Thatâs how we were raised.â His art studies at the University of Maine also were diverse. âWe were trained not to specialize,â he says. âThe whole art program was focused on understanding how to do a lot of different mediums.â
Woodworking was always a part of Waltonâs life, he adds. âMy grandfather was a woodworker, a barn builder. And my father was a mechanic, but also an excellent woodworker. As a kid, we didnât have a lot of toys and I was always building things out of wood.â When he got out of art school, Walton began working at an Ethan Allen plant in Andover, ME, and then moved to Boothbay Harbor, where his jobs included fiberglass work in a boatyard, boatbuilding and working for a few home builders. He then pursued his artistic interests full-time for four years, doing primarily watercolors. But as he and his wife Barbara (who currently serves as Walton Worksâ bookkeeper) began their family, he needed to earn more money. So he began working for a builder who had only two part-time employees at the time, doing outdoor and indoor work. He stayed with him as he grew to being the areaâs âpremierâ builder with 40 workers. As the company grew, so did Waltonâs reputation for producing high-quality woodwork. âNobody else around here was doing the kind of work we were doing,â he says. âWe did raised panel cherry kitchens with glass upper cabinet doors, dovetailed drawers, with a beautiful finish. No one else did that.â Walton also added his special âsignatureâ to the kitchens he built, carving a flower into the sink front. âIt got so that people came to that builder just to get a kitchen that was âsigned,ââ he says. âAnd if the customer was a real pain, they wouldnât get a flower,â adds Barbara. But the growth of that company also required Walton to handle a lot of duties that he did not relish, such as estimating and supervising, with little time for actual woodwork. So after seven years, he decided to go out on his own. âTwo weeks after I went into business for myself, we had the crash of â89,â he says. âThat first year I did two or three kitchens. But the next year was really hard.â Working in an 11-foot by 22-foot garage shop with heat provided by a kerosene space heater, Walton did whatever work he could to get by. A little over a year later, he was able to move into his current location, a 22-foot by 40-foot shop that was purchased together with a home next door. The shop includes storage space upstairs and a partial basement.
In the past 11 years, Walton has filled the shop with basic woodworking equipment (a Powermatic shaper, jointer and planer; SCMI bandsaw; Grizzly lathe; Williams and Hussey moulding planer and a bag press from Vacuum Pressing Systems) and built a steady business doing a wide variety of woodwork. One of his steadiest customers has been a wealthy couple for whom he had done some work when he was with the previous company. They also have provided referrals to numerous other clients. âThey appreciated the work that I did on their house, so they remembered me for that,â Walton says, âand they have had work for me every year since I have been on my own.â That work included several pieces of custom furniture and also led down a different path â drafting plans for their yachts. âWhen they decided to build a yacht, they werenât happy with the architect,â Walton says. âThey came to me because they knew I could do it.â The project, which was pure drafting, was for a yacht that was one of five chosen to receive an International Super Yacht Design Award in 1996. That work brought Walton subsequent drafting jobs on other yachts that eventually won acclaim as well. But despite intense periods of drafting, Walton also continued his woodworking. Some of it included pieces for the yachts, such as a set of dining room chairs, a six-foot-diameter wooden steering wheel and a coffee table fitted with hydraulics that allow it to be lifted to dining table height. Walton also has been able to incorporate his artistâs skills into several projects. This includes hand-carved furniture and millwork, as well as painting elaborate scenery on several Dutch-style furniture pieces for one client, who had bought some of his paintings and asked if he could build painted furniture. The result was ongoing work on furniture, cabinetry and millwork for her home for four years. Although Waltonâs woodworking projects are eclectic, to say the least, he has a set policy when it comes to pricing his work. He charges $40 an hour and bills every two weeks. âI keep track of my time, and I very seldom do estimates. If I do, they are verbal and itâs a handshake,â Walton says. âI donât write contracts, ever. If people come in here and want my work, they will pay for it. And the people that I work for donât even have to ask how much it costs.â For projects where he does give an estimate, he gets payments in thirds, he adds. âRight now I am working on a $12,000 bedroom set,â he says. âI get $4,000 upfront to get the project started. When we get to the point where itâs looking pretty much how itâs going to look and we are starting to think about the finish, weâll get the next allotment. Then the final payment is done on delivery.â
While Walton depends on doing a wide variety of work to help him survive, he feels that he fills a distinct niche in his area by providing an extremely high level of woodwork, bolstered by his artistic and boatbuilding abilities. âI get the tough jobs sometimes, thatâs what I have a reputation for doing,â he says. âItâs either stuff that other shops donât want to fool around with or donât have the patience for, or they just canât draw the manpower to deal with something intense. Itâs an odd niche that Iâm in around here. âNo one does work as diversified as me,â he adds. âAnd thatâs been the only way Iâve been able to survive.â But while his work is exceptional, his philosophy for maintaining high quality is straightforward. âItâs basic woodworking,â he says. âYou try to use a mechanical joint, first of all, mortise-and-tenon or dovetail. You use glue. And you make it as good as you can possibly make it. My standard is that I donât want to have to repair anything. I mean, if something is made properly, thatâs it for life. It is wood and it should last forever.â And Walton is equally basic when it comes to describing the type of work he prefers doing: âan interesting project that pays good money,â he says, although he adds, âdesigning my own stuff and building it. I really like that part of it.â |
Furniture at the Forefront - Diversified Pieces Showcase Woodworker's Artistic Talents
By
Helen
Kuhl
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