Nature’s work: Man uses burls, roots in furniture

ST. FRANCIS – Greg Hughes speaks very slowly and softly, a mannerism possibly generated from working with wood burls and roots from northern Maine forests from which he creates unique rustic furniture.

Making the furniture and home accents from logging leftovers is a long, tedious process, but one he has never tired of in his 25 years of working in his small St. Francis wood shop. The cleaning of roots and burls is an hours-long process in itself, demanding attention and care.

Hughes was one of more than 100 artists and craftspeople displaying their creations Sunday at the 27th annual Greater Fort Kent Area Chamber of Commerce Arts and Crafts Show at the University of Maine at Fort Kent SportsCenter. The artists and craftspeople were from all over the state, and one was from California with jewelry made from stones. The two-day show, which has 2,500 visitors a year, ended Sunday night.

Whether he sold or not, Hughes and his wife, Nicole, who helps in the shop, spoke of their labor to anyone who asked. Scores of people stopped, interested in the unique furniture.

Hughes’ area was filled with coffee tables and end tables, rocking chairs, coat trees, bowls, frames, mirrors and even drinking goblets, all handmade, some with antlers decorating the frames and clothing trees.

He was sitting in one of his rockers made of alder saplings Sunday when a man came by and asked to pick up the one-of-a-kind red bark chair he had purchased earlier.

“I find all this stuff [the raw material] driving around in the woods,” he said. “Some of the wood is even from Wyoming, Wisconsin and Colorado, found when we were driving around on vacation.

“The process can be long,” he said. “But the end product is certainly something to be proud of.”

He said his wife is an expert at spotting burls on trees, even at 50 mph on a woods road. She can spot them half a mile away, he said, laughing.

His work starts with a chain saw, getting the piece out of a growing or fallen tree. The final product demands the use of many kinds of tools, including picks and just about anything to remove years of dirt from the wood. The cleaning process is painstaking, he said.

Burls on trees are mostly caused by insects that drill through bark and do their dirty work underneath. It takes years for burls to grow from an otherwise healthy tree.

When they are seen by loggers, they are cut from the logs, sawmills not wanting the sometimes big and ugly pieces coming through their saws. They are left by the wayside. Some loggers call Hughes, telling him where they spotted some he might be interested in.

The roots are dug from the ground.

His raw material is natural and he likes to keep it that way when it is processed. His favorite finishes for his furniture are linseed oil and beeswax. However, some are finished with polymers and shellac, which give tabletops a harder, more usable stain-free surface. Some of his tabletops have figures and scenes burned into them before the finishing is complete.

One table at his display had ducks floating on a pond. Trees, bushes and other natural elements completed the layouts. Another table had a painted bald eagle head on it.

Hughes, 58, has been at the furniture business for 25 years. Before that he worked in the northern Maine woods. He said his father took him out of school as a teenager to work in the woods.

Hughes’ furniture work started as hobby, but now it takes up most of his time. He said nature is the artist in his work. “I’m just a guy who cleans it up. I get to show off Mother Nature’s work.”

Hughes can be reached at 398-2809, or at 410 Sunset Drive, St. Francis 04774.