REGINA -- Cameron Guest and his father, John, spend most of their free time woodworking together.
The father and son pair enjoy challenging themselves with each creation, colourful resin crib boards and walnut charcuterie boards just to name a few.
“I can thank Cam for kind of pushing me to do things,” John said. “We enjoyed it and I like the challenge. Most of our stuff turns out, there's some of it in the garbage but that's the way it goes.”
Six years ago, Cameron and John started woodworking side by side. John was recently retired then and wanted a way to stay busy.
“If you keep yourself moving, you keep busy, you live longer,” John said.
For Cameron, woodworking was a way to unwind.
“Just focus on the job at hand, and it's relaxing to be honest,” Cameron said.
Eventually, the pair starting getting requests for their art and that’s when 'The Spalted Burl' was born.
“A burl is like an inclusion on a tree," Cameron said. "Something that was created by either like created by a fungus or a disease where the tree decided to encapsulate it. The spalting is basically what happens when the wood starts to decay you get the black little lines like these, that's spalting.”
Cameron and John said they are both perfectionists, so sometimes they need to not overdo a project.
“The saying that dad and I always use in the garage is, 'we're not building a piano here,' we're just building a serving tray," Cameron said. "You know it doesn't have to be perfect but a lot of our work is very close to it.”
John spent his career in the Air Force and said a lot of times work came before family. John said he is very fortunate for all the evenings and weekends he gets to spend in the garage with his son.
“Nothing better than family," John said. "It's nice to be able to spend the time with him and who knows how long we got to spend with our children so we might as well enjoy it.”
