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ELY- Ben Pawlak inherited his love of woodworking from his Swedish grandfather, who brought his tools with him when he came to America. Pawlak also inherited his grandfather’s tools, which he … product
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ELY- Ben Pawlak inherited his love of woodworking from his Swedish grandfather, who brought his tools with him when he came to America. Pawlak also inherited his grandfather’s tools, which he still keeps in the big wooden box his grandfather carried them in on his voyage to a new life. “The only two power tools he had were a drill and a skilsaw. Everything else was by hand, and so that’s where I got my interest in woodworking,” said Pawlak. Pawlak keeps his grandfather’s tool chest in his shop, which is across the road from his home overlooking Burntside Lake. The shop is filled with Pawlak’s creations, like cutting boards, cribbage boards, clipboards, mushroom and tree-shaped knickknacks, goblets, cups, bowls, and footstools. Retired from five decades of cabinet making, Pawlak now concentrates on his craft pieces. “I’m really enjoying what I’m doing,” Pawlak commented, conceding that he likes to “keep busy.” Pawlak sells his woodcraft mainly through Art and Soul Gallery in Ely, at the Harvest Moon Festival in September, and at the Blueberry/Art Festival. “I’ve been selling at the Harvest Moon for the last six of seven years,” Pawlak remarked. “Last year was the first year I sold at Blueberry.”
Five decades of wood “I’ve been in one end of the woodworking industry since probably 1972,” Pawlak said, “so quite a few years. The cabinet-making business intrigued me and I enjoyed it. It was a good way to make a living.” Starting out, Pawlak worked in three different cabinet shops in the Twin Cities. Then he got what he described as a gift. “My last employer said I could start my own business and do my work in his shop on evenings and weekends, using his equipment, to get a base going for my own cabinet shop. You can’t turn down anything like that.” With that gift from his last employer, Pawlak opened his cabinet shop in Minnetonka in 1985. “In 35 years of business, I did three pieces of new construction, and everything else was a remodel, which was a real challenge, but I worked with some good people.” While Pawlak made and installed some cabinet work “up here” in the Arrowhead region, most of his cabinet making was based out of his shop in Minnetonka.
The 47-year move Pawlak grew up in Minnetonka but a part of him has been planted in Ely since 1961. As a boy, his family frequented YMCA’s Camp du Nord, located just a few miles from where he eventually built his Ely home. Pawlak has been involved with Camp du Nord, where he still volunteers, ever since. Pawlak liked the Ely area so much, he began the process of moving up here in the 70s. He bought his property on Burntside Lake in 1974 and began to build with the intent to move up here permanently. “I built (my shop) in the 70s and early 80s with the intention to move up here, live out of one-half (of the building), and work out of the other.” Life threw a wrench into Pawlak’s plans. “Then the economy died, so I stayed home and I met my wife. She liked it here, too, which is a good thing. We used the living quarters (of the shop building) for probably 25 years. We had a wood stove for heat, a refrigerator, and an electric stove. What more do you need?” Along the way, the Pawlaks had a son, Daniel, in 1990. Daniel is now a park ranger at Grand Canyon National Park. Pawlak and his wife Sandy built their home overlooking the lake in 2007. “Then we had to rent it out for nine summers so we could afford the taxes and utilities,” he said. He was selling his woodcraft at the Harvest Moon Festival several years before he moved up here permanently. Finally, in 2021, after 47 years of planning and building, Pawlak was able to move to the Ely area as a full-time resident.
Craft business The Rusty Nail Woodcraft workshop is exactly what you would expect from a master woodworker, with the requisite planer, drill press, saw, and other woodworking machines. An impressive dust collection system captures the sawdust from the planer, powered by a large squirrel cage fan. Hanging in neat racks along the wall are enough wood clamps of all sizes to supply every hardware store in Ely. The pride of the shop is the free-standing Robust brand wood lathe where Pawlak does the turning work. “I bought that when I was still in the cities from Woodcraft (a woodworking store). It’s built in Wisconsin. To my knowledge, it’s the only USA-made lathe … Robust lathes are well-thought-out, well-built, and my son (when he inherits it) will be able to use it for the rest of his life.” Gouges, chisels, and other turning tools are arrayed in two racks mounted on the wall next to the lathe. “This one cuts rings,” Pawlak said as he demonstrated an unusual gouge. He uses the tool to create a pile of free-floating wood rings trapped along the stem of wood goblets. Pawlak showed off a goblet waiting for its final finish with five rings piled on its base. The goblet itself was buckthorn, which is an invasive species in Minnesota. On the table just inside the door of the shop, Pawlak made a display of the wares he will have available at Blueberry, including the goblets with free-floating rings, bottle holders, clipboards, footstools, and nickknacks, with decorative layouts of differently colored wood. Pawlak will have all of these and more for sale at this weekend’s festival. Pawlak was surprised when he was selected as the featured artist for this year’s festival. “I’ve only been up here (full-time) for a couple of years. I didn’t expect this, but I am honored that they chose me.”
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