Super Senior: John Weaver
UNDERHILL, Vt. (WCAX) - At a lumber mill in Underhill, Isaac Cowan and John Weaver have become fast friends.
Cowan logs much of his 120 acres of mostly forested land. A while back he posted online that he had free scrap wood. Weaver, however, wasn’t looking to heat his house, just a burning desire to save the scraps.
“This would make a good, heavy bench or a table,” said Weaver, examining a piece of wood.
“You should have seen the look on his face when he first started figuring out what that piece of wood would turn into,” Cowan said.
Weaver transforms the scrap pieces into tables, benches, and what some would call works of art. “The thing about all pieces is they all look beautiful, I think,” Weaver said.
The finishing touches happen in his basement in Jericho where he spends several hours a day with his wife, Mary, by his side.
“He does the majority of the work, but I help,” Mary said. She says it all started when Weaver made a few dozen coasters taken from a tree branch in their backyard. “We’re kind of running out of family and friends to give things away to, so now decided that we really need to sell some pieces.”
Now, two rooms of their home are dedicated to woodcraft sales and 100% of the profits go to support area food shelves and helping the homeless. “Giving to the charities that we receive is just a good feeling for us,” Mary said.
The couple came to Vermont from Illinois about a decade ago to be closer to their daughter. Weaver retired from a career far different than his hobby. He was a world leader in physics and nanoscience, named the 1997 Scientist of the Year by Research and Development Magazine. “The guy who got it the year before was the fella who developed the internet,” Weaver said.
But for Weaver, the study of physics and woodworking go hand-in-hand. “The thing about surface ions is that you’re examining at the atomic level what the atoms are doing on the surface and how they are different than atoms in the bulk,” he explained to me. Translation -- he is wicked smart. “With physics, you have things that are very predictable. Quantum mechanics -- which is well understood -- I can tell you why that atom’s there and what it’s doing. Here, I don’t know where the atoms are.”
What the 77-year-old does know - there is beauty in imperfections. “This is all deterioration of the wood after it fell, and that makes it beautiful I think,” he said.
“I have grown such an appreciation. These pieces are beautiful. Inside of a tree is gorgeous,” added Mary.
Back at the mill, wood destined to go up in flames will now live on for generations. “You could make multiple tables or you could cut it here and make it into a coffee table,” Weaver points out. “That’s going to be a very pretty piece.”
Weaver’s creations are available for sale: 217-766-0837.
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