John pours love of wood into new book
JOHN O’Connor’s love of wood has found expression in finely crafted pieces of furniture that adorn the homes of family and friends and he has now extended this passion to paper, in a book that might challenge those who think they’re up to the task to replicate some of his work.
Designed as both a coffee-table book and a book for making coffee tables, ‘Craftsman Furniture from a Dingle Workshop’ contains detailed drawings and guidelines for making such items of furniture as grandfather clocks, rocking chairs, writing desks, fire surrounds… and of course a coffee table. It also contains the intriguing note that hidden in the base of each of the four longcase grandfather clocks John has made is a front page from The Kerryman – “to enlighten the finders... in the centuries ahead”.
The book carries the warning that the projects “require ability and experience in the craft of woodworking”, but even if John’s intricate grandfather clockcases are beyond the DIY reader’s dreams, the book still stands as a beautifully produced guide to the work that goes into making furniture that will stand the test of time.
As John’s former classmate Barry Carter, who launched the book in The Dingle Bay Hotel on Friday night, said: “These are heirloom pieces, not the kind of furniture you buy in IKEA and throw out after a few years”.
John, who is from the Wood in Dingle, began his working life as a carpenter in Dingle boatyard at the age of 17. At that time there were about 25 people working in the yard, turning out two 56ft trawlers a year. The workforce later expanded to about 40 and the boatyard produced bigger, more modern boats but by the mid-1980s demand for timber-built trawlers collapsed and the yard dwindled until it finally closed.
By that time John had gone on to other things, starting in 1974 with a two-year course in Gorey, Co Wexford, where he trained as a woodwork teacher.
After graduating he got a job in Tarbert Comprehensive where he worked for a couple of years before being head-hunted by the Regional Technical College which was starting a boat-building course in Tralee and found John’s skillset as a boatbuilder and carpentry teacher uniquely suited to the job.
He retired in 2010 and, when he isn’t sailing or ‘messing around on boats’, plies his trade in a workshop in the Garraí where he can give a piece of furniture all the time and attention it deserves. He doesn’t work for money, he doesn’t work to order, he doesn’t work to deadlines. Instead he works with wood for the love of it, producing furniture for family and friends in the sanctuary of the Garraí.
Craftsman Furniture From a Dingle Workshop costs €27 and is available in Garvey’s SuperValu, Dingle Bookshop and An Café Liteartha.