Hand crafted

Wooden creations and craftsmanship heart of Foxfire

By Alicia Carmichael, acarmichael@bgdailynews.com — 270-783-3234

Friday, November 05, 2004

GLASGOW Bob Tuckers Pappaw, Daniel Damron, was an inspiration to him.

His grandfather taught him to carve spoons and make benches and stools without the use of nails or screws.

He hunted and fished and collected ginseng while living in Pikeville and West Virginia.

Though Damron had a degree in mining engineering from Pikeville College, he never told Tucker about it. Instead, he mined coal and worked as a postmaster.

He did all the things those old-timers did, Tucker, 65, said.

Tuckers family lived with his grandfather for years. They moved away when Tucker was in his early teens so Tuckers dad could work in his native Michigan.

But Tucker didnt forget what hed learned in Appalachia, where boys could … run the creeks, shoot the squirrels and the rabbits.

Now, his Glasgow business, which features his hand-carved spoons, primitive benches and stools for children, is named Foxfire because of a childhood memory.

Foxfire is a tree that dies in the woods and eventually becomes rotten and glows in the dark, Tucker said. A long time ago people thought they were spooks and ghosts and haunts. But my grandfather was a hard-headed engineering guy and found out what that was. Hed put that stuff on his hands and face and come and scratch on the door and moan and groan and scare us kids.

For years, while Tucker worked as an engineer for General Motors, he made spoons, stools and benches, strictly as gifts for friends and family, in the same style his grandfather made them.

After he retired from working on the Corvette in 1986, Tucker began to sell his wares, which are mostly made from Kentucky ash, cherry and sassafras hes cut, found or been given. Rarely has he ever bought wood.

Now, Im a member of the Kentucky Craft Market Association, which sponsors people like us, Tucker said of himself and his wife, Linda, who does administrative work for Foxfire. I go to quite a few of the local festivals, Civil War re-enactments, Rendezvous with the Mountain Men, the St. James Art Fair in downtown Louisville and the Kentucky Craft Market Show.

Often, Tucker and Linda dress in period costumes when they are selling his works.

Linda makes her outfits and loves the job.

I made a Southern belle dress from an authentic pattern for a sale at Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville, she said, and its quite a challenge.

She said shes proud of her husbands crafts.

They are definitely something that will be handed down to the next generation, and they make wonderful gifts, she said.

Tucker is now passing his old-fashioned skills down to two of his teenage grandsons, Kent and Donnie Tucker, who live in Michigan.

Its just as it should be, according to something his grandfather told him decades ago.

He said it skips a generation a lot of times, Tucker said.

Bob Tuckers Foxfire studio is at 1619 Happy Landing Road, Glasgow, KY 42141. He can be reached at (270) 646-3344 or by e-mail at foxfire1@scrtc.com.

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