When the premises of Davie Hay, carpenter, was to be offered for sale in 1990 along with its extensive collection of tools a project was conceived by the former Banff and Buchan District Council to develop the “Fordyce Joiners Workshop & Museum”.

At this time the council viewed facilities such as this as key to helping sustain local communities through tourism. Following the purchase of the site and tool collection a project was designed for which grant funding was obtained from a number of bodies. The completed community and visitor facility was opened to the public in the spring of 1993.

The “workshop” comprises three elements of interest, museum displaying the tool collection, a garden and a workshop where for some thirteen years Tim Horborogh, harp maker and sculptor, has hosted and led woodworking and stone carving courses.

Although the facility is owned by Aberdeenshire Council the local Community Association has held a lease to the workshop for over 20 years. In the near future it is hoped that the lease will be extended to the whole site in order that improvements can be introduced to widen its appeal to both local residents and visitors.

THE VILLAGE JOINER

Throughout their life, village folk were surrounded by the work of country joiners, such as Davie Hay.

In towns woodworkers would specialize as carpenters, bench-joiners, shop-fitters, furniture makers, wheelwrights and cartwrights, and so on. Rural joiners had to be versatile “jacks of- all-trades”, able to turn their hands to anything to do with wood.

Before the days of mass-produced goods almost all of the furniture used locally, from cribs to chairs to chests of drawers and writing-desks, as well as household goods like brushes, butter churns and pails, were made by the joiner. He was often the village undertaker, and each coffin would be handmade to order.

The village joiner would be capable of rough work for farms and crofters with little money, and fine work for the “big” houses and better-off folk.

The miller would require water-wheels built and repaired. Farms would require gates, barns, wagons and carts. The village church might call in the joiner to repair or rebuild the organ.

In the early days of motoring, he would repair wooden car fittings and make flatbeds for lorries. The Master joiner would choose and buy standing trees to be felled and trimmed and brought to his yard to be cut up by sawyers. The timber was then carefully stacked and seasoned, sometimes for years. Oak, ash, beech and elm were the main species of wood required.

The joiner’s workshop was usually close to the smithy where tyres for wheels, hinges and hasps, and all sorts of fittings could be made to suit the job at hand. As the trade became mechanized and specialized, the joiner would buy in timber and fittings, and make sure his men and boys kept their skills up-to-date.

Today’s working conditions and wages are much better, and many women and girls have entered the woodworking trades. For a few years it seemed that cheaply-made goods and our throw-away culture would destroy the old skills and attitudes, but they are now being revived and treasured.