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- [S74] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume IV, 1987-1999, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 17 Sep 1995.
Wade Luther Ogle obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 12 Jul 2005.
Carrying on the tradition
By: JOEL DAVIS
Staff Writer July 12, 2005
Those who attended the demonstration got an up-close look at woodworking.
Call him a vanishing breed, and Gatlinburg woodworker Randy Ogle might agree, but don't expect him to lose much sleep.
"It's not as lucrative as it once was, but I'm old enough not to care," he said. "I can live on what I have."
Ogle, 52, is a sharply intelligent man with a mind far quicker than the lathe he was using to spin a hunk of wood into a graceful bowl during a demonstration in Gatlinburg.
The owner of the Chair Shop in Gatlinburg, Ogle has been a professional woodworker for 35 years. He is the fourth generation of his family to practice the trade.
Ogle learned woodworking from his father, Wade, who passed on the skills that he had learned from his own father, Isaac, who in turn had learned them from a maternal aunt named Mary Ellen McCarter.
A master woodworker, Ogle said he enjoys creating furniture and handicrafts that emphasize the simple beauty of the wood from which they are constructed. He's tackled more complicated projects, too, from spinning wheels to a 30-foot-diameter water wheel for a grist mill.
Once upon a time, woodworking was a much more common skill practiced throughout the rural communities of the Smoky Mountains, Ogle said.
"Most everybody in the mountains had some skill at it because it was necessary," he said.
Still, time has not been kind to the tradition.
"There used to be dozens of woodworkers in the area," he said. "A lot of them were really good craftsmen. When you see a generation retire and the next generation doesn't carry on the shop, there is a reason. It's often financial."
The challenge for modern woodworkers and other craftspeople is as simple as getting their products out to the public, he said.
"Why do I need 50 of the prettiest rocking chairs when I can only sit on one?" he said. "Whether it's in Kenya or Tennessee, this knowledge of how to produce a handicraft is worthless if you can't market it."
This is where the demonstrations that Ogle has been giving at the Arrowcraft Shop come into play. They are part of the shop's emphasis on helping local craftspeople market their products, Manager Craig Sponburgh said.
"Five years ago, we may have had five a year," he said. "This year, we have 50 to 60 days of demonstrations."
Local woodworker says skill used to be more common
Hard work, drive have paid off for Sheriff Bruce Montgomery
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 15 Jun 2015.
Michael D. Ogle obituary
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, d. 17 Sep 1995 (Age 68 years) 