Craftsman creative with wood

Doug McMath, 78, is a wood craftsman.

In a shop off his garage in his Liberty Lake home, he hand-makes what one might find in a high-caliber furniture and home accessory store.

It started in high school where he excelled in shop class. He moved up to teacher’s assistant, where he showed others how to work with wood.

He also sprayed every student’s pieces with lacquer. “I even sprayed the leather football helmets,” he said.

One piece might take months to complete in this solitary and time-consuming craft.

McMath purchases wood from specialty lumberyards and scavenges for unique types of wood in unlikely places. In one instance, he collected wood from a friend’s yard.

It had been used for a hot tub and sat for a couple of years. It appeared warped and water damaged.

McMath recognized it was jarrah wood, impervious to water and dominant in Australian forests. After drying it and sawing off a top layer, its rich red-orange color emerged and became ready to be incorporated into McMath’s hand-crafted bowls.

For his bowls, he cuts strips of wood and glues and clamps them together. Initially, it is a square of layers of different types and colors of wood. He then cuts out the center and forms it into the shape of a bowl.

The final product appears striped, patterned and smooth as if the item was made from one piece of wood. It looks Southwest in style or perhaps Native American.

He also makes planter boxes, lamps, desks and tables. His smaller pieces include jewelry boxes, a thimble case and baseball bats.

“I’m always thinking of things to make out of wood,” he said. He made a 4-foot-tall lighthouse with a light inside for a family member.

His lamps have intricately worked bases, and one desk he made out of discarded table leaves that he picked up for free at a furniture warehouse. A matching coffee and end table have tiles embedded into their tops.

His pieces are all high end and easily would fit into any showroom. The biggest difference is that his work is not mass-produced, and every piece has personal touches.

Often he starts with plans but adjusts them to his tastes. He also has the ability to design pieces in his mind and put it down on paper.

“His creativity extends into everything we do,” said Jo, his wife of 55 years. Because he is a good problem solver and critical thinker, his family often turns to him when something needs to be fixed.

In the military service, McMath kept his hands busy by colorizing black-and-white high school photos of friends. He applied oil paint to the photos using cotton attached to a toothpick because Q-Tips were not around then.

His job in the service was as a military policeman, guarding the atom bomb.

He worked in produce and then with Snyder’s Bakery for 30 years. He retired in 1989.

He had a heart attack in 1991 and open-heart surgery followed. He’s fine now and has plenty of time to hunt and create with wood.

He also delivers mail part time at Spokane Community College. Not even a slight case of Parkinson’s disease can stop him from building functional and beautiful things.

He sold a bowl once for $350. The rest have been given to friends and family or kept in his home.