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Woodwork
which incorporated in March and is
working toward becoming a nonprofit, is
fundraising for a wood shop.
Bohlmeyer is searching for a space that
is about 2,000 to 2,500 square feet to
start out with, but he hopes the space will
eventually grow as the collective increases.
In addition, the collective will need to
acquire tools and supplies.
As Bohlmeyer and I spoke, a group of
Astoria woodworkers were in Connecticut
picking up free lumber they found
in a Craigslist ad, posted by a man who
chopped down a walnut tree in his backyard
to make space for a sculpture garden.
Bohlmeyer said it will take about
three to four months until they get the
whole tree transported back to Astoria
due to the size of the wood chunks.
Toward the end of our conversation
over coffee, Bohlmeyer pointed out that
the wood bench we were sitting on was
made by Mighty Oak Roasters’ co-owner,
Sean Donnelly, who is also an Astoria
Woodworker Collective member.
Donnelly crafted the inside and outside
benches at Mighty Oak. He got
the wood for the outdoor bench from
a tree in a friend of a friend’s New Jersey
backyard, and most of the inside
seating was repurposed from a fallen
tree after Hurricane Sandy. Donnelly
put in about 20 hours of work to
transform these pieces of nature into
unique, environmentally friendly seating
for his café.
“Woodworking has been a hobby of
mine for quite a while. I learned a lot of
what I know from my father and we actually
maintain a shop at my folks’,” Donnelly
said.
The local business owner was drawn to
the collective to share the craft of woodworking
with other community members
and to support creatives in the neighbor-
Photos via Instagram/@astoriawoodworkers
Photo by Katie Chin
/BOROMAG.COM
