MILLERSBURG — Students in Dave McMillen’s building and trades class at West Holmes were treated to a guest instructor for three days last week as Caleb and John Miller of CJM Woodworking in Killbuck shared their wisdom of the lost art of timber framing.
Caleb Miller, a former West Holmes student, said his company was looking to hire someone for the spring so he contacted McMillen and they got to talking about the house project the building and trades class does every two years.
“I asked if he had a former student he’d recommend or someone who was getting ready to graduate this year, and told him what we were looking for,” Miller said. “We wanted someone who has the ability to think mechanically and still understood the building process. We wanted someone who could think mechanically because a lot of what we do in construction or repair of an old barn. A few days later, we had a former student call.”
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Miller said while they were talking, McMillen asked if he would be willing to come out and talk with the students.
“We started talking a few months ago and figured out how we could work together on this,” Miller said. “We came out on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. These guys are in a pretty good spot where they should be able to finish themselves. I’ll come back sometime down the road, to help finish things up if they need.”
Miller said they didn’t have this type of program when he was at West Holmes, but he is glad to come back and help out with the outstanding program McMillen has going.
“Timber framing is a completely different animal, but if they learn about the equipment and the tools, and how to use some of these tools, it can make construction or other trades they go into easier. It makes them more versatile,” Miller said.
Caleb Miller, John Miller and Steve Rucki from Miller’s CJM Woodworking Company spent three days working with the students.
Now that trades are coming back, words like craftsmanship are big buzzwords in the industry.
“Holmes County is kind of a mecca for woodworking. Here we have these local guys who gave up three days of their time to come in and teach these kids basically the lost art of timber framing — talking about what goes into it and using all these old-style tools,” McMillen said. “They’re taking it a step further. They’re talking about little subtleties of the craft, like the sharpness of a chisel matters, and boning skills and things like that.
“Learning to use these old-style tools helps students rely on the craftsmanship that they can produce. These are like post-frame cabinet building,” he continued. “This is a 6x6 project, they hand-planed it, cut the mortise and tenons, and peg holes.”
The juniors, seniors and middle school students all shared in the Miller’s presentations throughout the three days.
The students all took turns working with the various tools, like the hand planes, hand saws, chisels, hatchets and more.
The students worked in groups, working on getting the mortise cleaned out so it would accept the rafter the other group was working on. The end product the students are working on will be part of the two-year house project the juniors and seniors are working on.
“We take the green lumber and build structures. Many of these structures will be around for hundreds of years,” McMillen said. “As the wood dries, it gets tighter and stronger.”
Jeff Miller, a senior in the building and trades class said he is unsure what his future plans are, but if he does go into the construction industry, he will look into woodworking.
“I like the fact that it’s traditional woodworking,” Miller said. “It’s cool because we need houses and stuff, but going back to traditional woodworking makes you have to think how it was done before we had Skilsaws and stuff. It’s really, really interesting to me.”
The building and trades program added the middle school program this year to try and get more younger people interested in the trades, getting them thinking about careers at a younger age.
“The whole gist of the middle school program is to get the kids excited about the trades early,” McMillen said.
McMillen said he has scaled back his house project that he does with the juniors and seniors in the building and trades class for the new middle school program.
“We’re building a tiny house and we’re going to sell it at the end of the year,” McMillen said. “I felt they needed their own project. But there is a big learning curve because it is the first year. It’s not like many people out there are saying, hey let’s take a bunch of eighth graders and build a house. The kids are really into it and really enjoying it, and they are really responding.”
McMillen hopes the kids take away a few important points from his program and the time spent with CJM Woodworking.
“Whatever trade these kids want to get into, be it heating and cooling or plumbing or woodworking, if they go into work with a respect for their tools, and respect for their work, that’s what I’m hoping for,” he added.
Reporter Kevin Lynch can be reached at 330-674-5676 or klynch@the-daily-record.com.