HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-07-23, Page 11THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015. PAGE 11.
Deitner carries on tradition taught by father
In a disposable world, where
goods that don’t last are often
replaced instead of repaired, it’s not
often a tradesman who specializes in
the latter finds success but Leo
Deitner says his woodworking
business is doing better this year
than it has most others.
Deitner, using simple tools, hand-
split wood and a lot of effort, can
make a replacement handle for
pretty much any implement you
would find around a home, shed or
barn.
His workshop, a portion of his
home garage on Cardiff Road, just a
stone’s throw from his family farm,
has become a place people go to
when their trusty axe handle snaps,
hammer-head slips off or the blade
of a favourite knife becomes
detached.
“I’ve made a lot of different
things,” he said. “Handles for
hammers, axes, hatchets and sledges
and even some ladder rungs.”
Working with elm, ash,
thornwood, hickory and, on
occasion, ironwood, Deitner, using
nothing more than a small hand-
hatchet, a drawknife and a
spokeshave that will take a three-
foot piece of wood (hand-split or
quarter cut only) and turn it into
something smooth and beautiful.
Deitner said ironwood is typically
the toughest, followed closely by
thornwood, which comes from the
hawthorn tree, but he said the secret
isn’t the strength of the wood, but in
observing the rules of making good
tools.
“Thornwood and ironwood are
tough to work with and they make
great tools, but the grain is what is
important,” he said. “If you use saw-
cut wood, the grain is the wrong way
and you’re more apt to have the
wood snap in your hands or the head
of an axe or hammer snap right off.”
Deitner tracks what he knows
about making handles back to his
father teaching him in Deitner’s
formative years.
“It was sometime near when I was
11 or 13 years old and he had to
make a handle, so he taught me how
to do it,” he said.
It was a skill Deitner didn’t use,
however, until 30 years ago when he
found himself in the same position
as his father.
“I needed some replacement
handles around the farm and I
figured I would try to make some
handles the way my father had,” he
said. “It had been a long time, but I
tried it and it worked and I’ve been at
it for the last 30 years.”
Back then, it was a way to keep the
tools around his family farm a little
longer before they needed to be
replaced, however, since he retired
several years ago, he has been
selling what he has made.
“By my math, since I started
selling and repairing things for
people, I’ve had over 150 satisfied
customers,” he said. “Some of them
are repeat.”
While some people come back
with other jobs, only one handle he
has made has been replaced to his
knowledge and that was because it
was run over by a tractor. The
amount of time and care that goes
into the final product is what makes
the handles he crafts last long, he
said. For example, a full-sized axe or
sledgehammer handle will take him
four to seven days to craft.
Visitors to the shop shouldn’t
bother looking for power tools to
explain the quick turnaround either,
though many do.
“People come in here, either to see
what I do or order something, and
they look for equipment, like power
tools,” he said. “I don’t use them.
They’re always surprised when
I hand them the finished
product.”
A true puritan to the craft of
woodworking, Deitner doesn’t even
use sandpaper, saying that, if you
keep your blades sharp enough,
you’ll end up with the smoothest
wood available.
His wife Rita says Leo will sit
there for days on end chipping away
at a piece of wood until it has the
right shape to be made into a handle.
“Then, he’ll draw out his pattern
and, using the hatchet, just keep
going until it’s about the right size,”
he said.
From there, he shaves the wood
down using the drawknife and the
spokeshave, finishing the job with a
wood sealant.
While handles for tools are what
he started with, Deitner said that
there have been plenty of other
projects he has tackled.
“I’ve done knife handles and even
did a butcher’s knife for my wife,”
he said.
Replacement isn’t always what the
customer needs either. He recently
fixed an Australian dehorner that
was used at the Brussels Livestock
barn, however simply crafting a
replacement part wouldn’t quite do
the job there.
“The handles that were in there
weren’t the original and people who
would use them kept bashing their
knuckles together,” he said. “At the
end of the day, hitting your knuckles
together that often would make them
tender, so I made the replacements
curve out a bit.”
Deitner said he received a call
from one of the people who uses the
dehorner often and was told his fix
made a huge difference.
He has also started creating
personalized gifts.
While he has had a practice of
putting his initials on the handles he
made, he recently started engraving
the handles he has crafted at
customer’s request.
He said he made an entire set of
hammers for a family with each one
bearing the name of the recipient.
One of Deitner’s fans, he said, is
Ben Hiller, also of the Brussels area,
has taken an interest in the trade.
Hiller, whose family is likely best
known for playing music together,
doesn’t have a lot of time to dedicate
to woodworking, especially given
that his family has its own farm to
manage. However, Deitner said he
sees the young man more in the
winter and is happy to pass on the
craft.
“You never know when you’re
going to need to fix something and
knowing how to fix it yourself
helps,” he said.
Deitner himself still helps on the
family farm, though a medical
condition has limited what he can
manage. He said that, when he first
realized his time on the farm was
coming to an end, he didn’t know
what to do and that’s when he started
fixing handles.
“At first, it was just something to
do to keep me busy,” he said. “I
never thought it would turn into what
it has.”
To learn about Deitner’s craft,
contact him at 519-887-6568.
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Doing it by hand
Over the past 30 years Leo Deitner has turned what was
once a necessity, making replacement handles for his
family farm, into a business. Using some simple tools, like
the drawknife shown above, and hand-cut wood, Deitner
can make a full sized axe or sledgehammer handle in a
week while smaller handles might only take a day. (Denny
Scott photo)
An artisan
Leo Deitner, right, has been making wooden handles for all
sorts of implements for the past 30 years. What makes his
special? Well everything is done by hand. Using nothing
more than a hand hatchet, a drawknife and some other
hand tools, he can take a piece of wood like the one he is
holding and turn it into a full sized axe handle like the one
held by his wife Rita. (Denny Scott photo)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen