Arval Woody - FOLDER #10

ARVAL WOODY, CHAIR MAKER ITEM LIST - FOLDER #10 - Photographs, taken by D.H. Ramsey Library staff, December 2006.
Note: Photographs by Helen Wykle, for D.H. Ramsey Library, UNCA Special Collections.
Box	Folder	Item	Description	Thumbnail
1	10	woo10_001	Interior of the Chair Shop sales room with patron (Fern Hayes) and shop assistant seated on Woody chairs. The open door to shop may be seen in the background.
		woo10_002	View of the interior of the craft shop showing the tools and storage shelves and locust floor of the shop.
		woo10_003	View of the interior of the craft shop.
		woo10_004	View of the interior of Woody's Chair Shop in with the many hand-made shop tools and storage innovations he used while creating his chairs.
		woo10_005	Some of the other wood craft derived from the "waste" wood in the shop and crafted by a variety of artisans who worked with and studied with Arval Woody. Rarely did any wood become truly "waste" if it could be used to fashion useful wood products. Maple, walnut, cherry, oak, and other woods are used to create the many utilitarian objects
		woo10_006	View of the photographs and framed letters on the wall of the Chair Shop. The framed photograph at center is Arthur Woody, Arval's grandfather, and the upper right partial view of a photograph shows the presentation to John Kennedy of the two chairs for his children by Governor Terry Sanford.
		woo10_007	View of the photographs and paintings on the wall of the Chair Shop. Photograph is of Charles Woody, Arval's father. The painting, to the right, is taken from a photograph, and depicts the original Chair Shop with water-wheel, where the first chairs in the family were made.
		woo10_008	Arval Woody selecting a chair back for notching.
		w00009	Arval Woody feels his pocket for a pencil as he evaluates a chair back for creating a notched pattern.
		woo10_010	Close view of Arval creating a notch in a chair back from a pattern. Injury to Arval's finger had occurred just days before this image was taken. In the over 45 years he has been making chairs, injuries have been very few.
		woo10_011	Chair backs in preparation for shaping into the unique notched pattern used by Arval Woody and his Shop for some of the Colonial chairs.
		woo10_012	Shop tool that has been modified to create the first shaping of the chair legs. Note the 1800's date on the Levi Houston mortising machine.
		woo10_013	Arval Woody demonstrating shop tools used in his craft.
		woo10_014	Arval Woody demonstrating the polishing of a chair round in an adapted lathe-finishing machine.
		woo10_015	View of the shop floor which utilizes square blocks of locust sunk into earth as flooring. Originally the floor was dirt which quickly became difficult as dust was a constant problem and sawdust could not be cleared easily. The square posts of locust wood were sunk into the shop floor and over the years the surface of the wood has taken on a smooth finish as feet and sawdust have worn down the surface of the floor to a high finish.
		woo10_016	Arval Woody demonstrating the use of his unique lathe used to form the chair rounds and uprights.
		woo10_017	Arval Woody in his shop with assistant demonstrating the use of the lathe to produce chair rounds.
		woo10_018	Chair backs in a hand-made press that helps to retain uniformity of curvature in the backs after they have been dried in the press molds. Chair rounds are stacked in chair behind press.
		woo10_019	View of the wood-storage area with chair-backs in press molds. The backs are placed in the press molds to dry after they are taken from a soak in a hot water bath. The hot water bath makes the wood pliant and allows the gentle curve of the chair backs.
		woo10_020	A broad view of the interior of the work shop showing the exhaust and venting system close to ceiling and work areas and tools, below.
		woo10_021	Interior view of shop with raking view of storage areas to the right of shop entry door.
		woo10_022	Interior view of shop tools, showing lathe used to create the chair rounds.
		woo10_023	Interior view of the shop showing drill used to create the holes for the joins for the chair-leg rungs.
		woo10_024	A Levi Houston machine used by the Woodys to create mortises for the chair backs. The tight tenon and mortise fit of all the chair parts is an important hall-mark of all Woody's chairs. The machine is dated Jan. 28, 1873 and Oct 17, 1882. The wood-working equipment seen here, was invented by Levi Houston, who owned a foundry and machine shop in Montgomery, Pennsylvania at the close of the nineteenth century. The company he founded, Houston, Smith and Company was renamed the Levi Houston Co. in 1877 or 1878. Levi Houston was dead by 1897 and following his death, his company merged to form the American Wood Working Machine Company. It is remarkable that this machine has been in operation for at least 125 years or more. It was adapted for use in the Woody Chair Shop, but just when it came to the Spruce Pine shop, is not known. To read more about the company that made the machine: http://www.owwm.com/MfgIndex/detail.asp?ID=454
		woo10_025	Interior view of shop tool, the Levi Houston mortise machine, which "punches" mortise slots i the chair uprights for the insertion of the "tenoned" chair-backs.
		woo10_026	Interior of shop. Close view of storage bins holding dowels and chair-backs.
		woo10_027	Interior of shop with table saw in the foreground and other tools used in crafting chairs, visible in the background.
		woo10_028	View across finishing belt sander to back room used for finishing chairs.
		woo10_029	Finishing tools against wall of the interior of the shop.
		woo10_030	Chairs used to hold turned rounds for chair uprights and rungs.
		woo10_031	Interior of workshop with chair legs in process and lathe and polishing equipment under window. Lathe used to polish and sand rounds.
		woo10_032	Interior of workshop with chair legs in process and lathe and polishing equipment under the window. Chairs holding uprights and rungs in the foreground.
		woo10_033	Interior of workshop with chair uprights in process and lathe and polishing equipment under window.
		woo10_034	View of interior of workshop across top of wood stove toward entry door.
		woo10_035	Close view of locust squares floor with wood stove in background. Chair uprights and rungs on chair next to stove.
		woo10_036	View of the locust post floor in the shop with wood stove in center of room.
		woo10_037	View up into the ceiling of the shop area showing storage of wood items. Every corner of the small shop area room has been utilized.
		woo10_038	View of finishing sanding belt, with empty press in foreground and with finished chair in background. The large tube is used to carry dust and fumes out of the shop.
		woo10_039	Arval Woody's sister, Eleanora Woody Young, came for a visit with her husband during UNCA's visit to the workshop. She agreed to sit for a portrait. She, like other members of the family, helped in the chair manufacturing business.
		woo10_040	A short drive was made to Arval Woody's home to see this unique cherry coffee table that has the image of a fox or wolf in the grain and to see many of the other wooden items given or traded with other craftsmen. The trip only served to emphasize his extraordinary love of wood and the large network of craftsmen that Arval knew through his work..
		woo10_041	View of "Fox" table of cherry.
		woo10_042	About one mile from the shop is the home of Arval Woody and throughout the home can be seen many of his crafts, and many of the awards and honors given to he and his wife, Nora, over their life time. This award of gratitude was given to Arval by the Grassy Creek Fire and Rescue, "In appreciation for the devoted years you have spent with us. With this award of gratitude, goes our best wishes and heartiest thanks. Grassy Creek Fire & Rescue. Feb. 22, 1982. Arval's civic engagement is another instance of his pride of place.
		woo10_043	Spruce Pine, in Mitchell County, NC, where the Woody's Chair Shop is located, is dominated by mica and feldspar mining. High on the mountain approaching Spruce Pine, one of the mining operations may be seen.
		woo10_044	Mitchell County is largely rural and the beauty of the region and its rich cultural heritage of craft was one reason the early craft school, Penland School of Crafts was established there by Miss Lucy Morgan in 1923. The school has a national reputation for crafts and starting in 1929 it has supported a residence program for artists.
		woo10_045	Today the Penland School of Crafts occupies about 400 acres high on the mountain in rustic buildings, some remaining from the early years when an Episcopal school flourished on the site. The Woody family has long had a connection with the school and Arthur, the grandfather of Arval Woody, was invited there in the early years to provided instruction on chair making. These early chairs by Arthur were typically mountain hickory-cane bottom chairs, unlike the refined Colonial chairs produced by the later Woody's Chair Shop. The practice of using no nails and the close joins for the uprights and chair backs, is however found in both the early chairs and in the later chairs.
		woo10_046	Distant views of fog shrouded mountains, open fields, and peaceful quite abound in this mountain-top setting, in contrast to the now, rapidly developing strip-malls that today surround Woody's Chair Shop. While the location of Woody's shop on busy Highway 19, provided access to easy transport and drop-in by tourists, it slowly lost its rural associations as the geography and the demographic evolved.