- Putterer turns scrap into furniture BY ED VAN BERKEL Post-Crescent staff writer
He calls himself a "putterer" but to anyone who views the finished work of Harry Balck, 64, 1615 Riverdale Drive, he is a craftsman. Balck, an employee of Appleton Wire- An Albany International Co., makes furniture. With no formal training and without the benefit of woodworking classes, he turns out furniture which matches or surpasses anything that can be purchased in the finest furniture stores. What most people consider scrap or junk lumber, Balck turns into a work of art. He uses shipping crates, skids, pallets and tree trimmings in fashioning creations which cannot be duplicated. Balck has been interested in wood and creating things with it all his life but only in the past five or six years has he pursued the hobby in earnest. He started out with Christmas cribs and shrines but has graduated to much more elaborate items. Today, practically anything made of wood in his home and those of his four children are the results of his efforts. End tables, coffee tables, flower benches, chairs, bookcases, toy boxes, octagon tables, hutches and display cases are only a few of the many items he has turned out. Many of the items turned out by Balck are replicas of antique furniture formerly owned by his or his wife's parents. Some are patterned after pictures taken from newspapers or magazines and a good many are duplicates of items found in the most expensive furniture magazines. "One of the items came to me in a dream," said Balck as he displayed an ornamental key which graced the wall of his home. Power tools in his basement would be the envy of anyone having the slightest ability to work with wood. A drill press, lathe, handsaw, jigsaw, joiner, belt sander are only a few of the many tools which indicate a major financial investment needed to pursue his hobby. Balck estimates that he spends three or four hours per day working in his basement but his wife claims that he is underestimating. Both agree that his woodworking is limited to winter months as warm weather in spring and summer finds him busy with yard work. The craftsman has no preference for the type of wood with which to create his finished products. He has used pine, "cherry, oak, ash, apple, maple and even sumac in creating many of his masterpieces. Every piece of scrap wood is valuable to Balck and each has a character of its own. Scrap trim from the home he helped build was used to create a table with 48 pieces of wood fashioned together to form a 10-inch diameter top. His interest in making furniture probably can be traced back to his father, who did upholstery work. Balck remembers his first endeavour a small sewing cabinet for his mother. He had to borrow tools from a neighbor to fashion the piece which has since been duplicated on a much larger scale for his daughters and daughter-in-law. Many of the tools, gluing tables and supplementary items used in his craft were either designed or built by Balck to help facilitate and simplify his work. Displaying what he calls his "supply depot," he said that about 75 per cent of his basement, a goodly share of the family garage, an outdoor picnic table and a pile of logs in his back yard are loaded with materials for future use. A daughter Margie assists him with design work and another daughter, Mrs. Gary Van Marter, has the responsibility for finishing the final projects. Balck rattles off the type of woods which result in the most beautiful furniture and claims that he almost cried when he learned that a friend had cut down a black walnut tree and had the wood hauled to a dump. Shipping crates, discarded broom handles, logs, broken furniture, discarded doors or anything wooden finds a place in the Balck home. Even the smallest piece of wood may someday find itself part of a master product. Picture frames made of logs with the bark still intact surround rustic scenes while modern plaques with a bicentennial motif show the versatility of the craftsman. Once, a plastics firm asked him to build 1,500 Christmas cribs, but when his wife figured out the cost of materials, hours of labor involved and governmental red tape, she estimated that the net profit would be about $4 so the request was quickly discarded. Balck does most of his work for himself and his family and occasionally will turn out an item for a friend on special request. His basement contains stacks, boxes and even barrels of patterns he has turned out over the years and his library consists of "Popular Science" and other magazines dating back to the 1930s.
Mrs. Balck complains of sawdust in air ducts, on furniture and in the carpet and the loss of her laundry room to an assortment of wood and semi finished furniture, but the pride she shows in the accomplishments of her husband belies the complaints.
January 18, 1976, Sunday Post-Crescent, P. C-2
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- need to add
Balck-Manning
Mr. and Mrs. Harry H.
Balck, 1615 Riverdale Drive
have announced the engagement
of their daughter, Margaret,
to Jeffry L. Manning,
son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur L.
Manning, 1132 Fieldcrest
Drive, Menasha.
Miss Balck was graduated
from the City College of
Cosmetology and is with
Fashion Aire Beauty Salon.
Her fiancé is with Menasha
Water and Light Utility Co.
Tuesday, August 24,1971
The Post-Crescent A14
Balck-Kottke
A 1976 summer wedding is planned b£
Margaret K Balck and Thomas Bj
Kottke. Their engagement has been an*
nounced by her parents, Mr. and Mrs4.
Harry H. Balck, 1615 Riverdale Dr. Mr.
Kottke is the son of Claire E. Kottke, 327
W. Eighth St., and the late Walter F.
Kottke.
Appleton-Post Crescent., Monday, October 13, 1975 P. A-3
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1911 - 1995 (84 years)
1920 Census
