Piney Mountain Patchworks; A look at traditional woodworking

By Blake Moore

In the corner of the Appalachian Festival setup in the FSU upper quad sat a table adorned with several handmade crafts. Handcrafted walking sticks sit upon a rack to the left side, decorative gourds and other wood-workings lay on the table,and a man and a woman quietly work the booth. This is the table of the Piney Mountain Patchworks, a small local business run by Michael Olson and his wife. The table is visited intermittently by passerby, and many people stop to look at the already finished walking sticks or to observe the process of a new one being made.

Michael Olson stands at the Piney Mountain Patchworks table.

In 2008, Michael Olson was a recent retiree of the FSU Sociology department, feeling that he "Was ready to retire from teaching, as I felt I was ready to." Soon after, he began looking for a new outlet. "I started making the walking sticks for my grandson," said Olson. Having some experience with whittling beforehand, Olson decided to begin taking it up as a new hobby of sorts. This new hobby of making walking sticks and other crafts slowly turned into the current Piney Run Patchworks as it is today.

Olson, a local resident of the Frostburg area, gathers the wood for his walking sticks locally from cast off tree limbs in the various forests in the area. He then begins to craft a new walking stick, or as he likes to call them, his “swans”, inspired from the children's tale The Ugly Duckling. After gathering the branches, he begins the crafting process by peeling the bark off the limbs and cleaning them from imperfections. He then applies either a layer of wood stain, in the case of younger limbs, or goes directly to a finish known as Tung oil. Usually, the wood used in making his walking sticks are older branches, as he feels that the various things that wood goes through as time passes, like weather effects and insect/fungal infestations, cause the wood to gain a distinct coloration and pattering that can be brought out and enhanced through various woodworking methods.

Michael Olson states that he greatly enjoys the woodworking he does. “I do it because I like to do it. I really enjoy doing it,” Olson said, “I'm not in this for the money or anything. I'm doing this because I want to do it.” One of the other crafts made by the couple, decorative gourds, are grown personally at Olson's home. Olson's wife has also been very supportive throughout the last 4 years, helping him produce things for their business. They are both very happy doing what they are doing together.

This year's Appalachian Festival marks the couple's second year presenting. “There are good days and there bad days, but that's not always a bad thing,” said Olson, speaking about how sales had been going, “What matters is doing what I enjoy doing.” Needless to say, there is little doubt that the Piney Mountain Patchworks will be missing from the Appalachian Festival anytime in the next few years.