CANORA - After a distinguish career of serving over 34 years as an RCMP officer, Bill Foreman of Canora has found a challenging and rewarding new pursuit – woodworking.
“In Grade 7 and 8, the boys in our school took woodworking as a compulsory class,” said Foreman. “My very first project was a cat, which wasn’t very good, but I still have it. I only really started woodworking again after I bought a scroll saw last summer.”
Foreman grew up at Gilbert Plains, Man., and received his RCMP training in Ottawa. His initial experience came while working at the national headquarters in Ottawa for three-and-a-half months, before moving to Saskatchewan. He then spent the rest of his RCMP career posted at a number of communities around the province.
But now, he has turned his attention to woodworking.
“I spend an average of about 15 hours at it during a typical week. I really enjoy just about everything about it, right from the creative process up to seeing the finished item.”
The first step in the process is to choose the wood he wants to use, and then sand it. Foreman applies blue painter’s tape on the wood, and adds the pattern for the project over the painter’s tape with spray adhesive. After the pattern is cut out, more sanding. The final step is to paint or stain the finished item, depending on the project.
Forman said probably his favourite wood to work with is Baltic birch plywood.
“It’s clear with very few knots. Unfortunately it’s hard on the blades in the scroll saw, mainly because of the glue in the plywood. I also use purpleheart wood quite a bit, which comes from Central and South America. Cedar is hard to work with, so it’s one of my least favourite woods.”
The main tools for woodworking are Foreman’s scroll saw, drill press, band saw, belt sander and flap sander.
His simplest and most straightforward projects are probably the Christmas ornaments.
Collapsible baskets are among his most time consuming and the most complicated.
“It takes about 20 minutes just to cut the rings,” said Foreman. “You have to tilt the table so they actually collapse.”
He has also done pigs, dinosaurs, elephants, spider monkeys, aardvarks and sunflowers.
He said he gets many of his ideas from pattern books, and also subscribes to Scroll Saw Magazine.
Foreman said he enjoys creating woodworking projects as gifts for family and friends, including Christmas ornaments during the holiday season.
But who knows, this could turn into a significant source of income for Foreman. Presently he has several items for sale at CF Aesthetics, located next to the Canora Keen Age Centre.
Overall, Foreman said he is pleased with how the woodworking is going so far and doesn’t plan any major changes, but also adds, “I would like to work on some different types of dinosaurs.”
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