Cedar Creek Studio - Chris Ramsey
For DIRECTIONS to Cedar Creek Studio, click HERE
Brute Force, a Boat, and a Burl = Log Roll
Two fishermen who were eating breakfast in a diner were overheard talking about a huge log covered in "bumps" that was near their secret fishing spot. After convincing the fishermen that we were woodturners and were only interested in the log with bumps, they finally disclosed their secret location.
The following weekend we came up with a plan to get the massive 60 foot log covered in burls out of where it was located. The log was perched on a steep incline resting on some large boulders. The log was sectioned into five pieces. The base section of the log was 54" in diameter and too heavy to winch up the hill. With no other options readily available, brute force and gravity came into play. After splashdown we tied a rope around each section and towed them by boat to a nearby boat ramp, backed my trailer under the floating logs, secured the logs to the trailer then drove them to my farm.
Numerous 2½" thick beautiful burl slabs were milled for tables and furniture and are currently air-drying; then will go into the kiln for several months. Many of the cutoffs have been turned into some beautiful artwork with a large pile of beautiful burls yet to be turned.
Massive Burled Tree
Sawmill at Cedar Creek - Chris Ramsey
Chris referenced at the White House Coorespondents' Dinner, 2004
(Reprinted from Attaché, Magazine of U.S. Airways, August 2004)
Writer DEAN BLAINE meets a Kentucky woodworker who accidentaly crafted a curious PIECE OF APPAREL fit for a president.
In certain circles, Chris Ramsey is a celebrity craftsman. At the White House, for instance, where Ramsey was invited to meet the president, he was surrounded in the Roosevelt Room by congressmen and presidential aids, eager for a glance at his handiwork. In the Oval Office, George W. Bush said, "I can't believe you can do this with wood."
Ramsey's craft happened rather by accident. A woodturner by trade, he made mostly hardwood bowls, until one day, disappointed in a vessel he was making for his wife, Ramsey turned it upside down and placed it on his head. Staring at himself in the mirror, he knew that he was onto something.
He also knew that making his vision a reality would not be easy. If he were going to sculpt hats from hardwood, he wanted to make durable ones that could actually be worn like any other. And, he decided, they would be fashioned from a single cut of wood, with no glue and no pieces. Ramsey spent 26 hours sculpting his first hat before it broke apart in his hands. Countless times he nearly called it quits. "The first hundred hats I made were pretty ugly," he says, "but they burned real good."
Ultimately, Ramsey perfected his technique. In the basement of his Somerset, Kentucky, home, he turns felled hardwood logs on his thousand-pound lathe, sculpting his hats to a thickness of 3/32 of an inch, so thin that bright light shines through the wood. In the drying process, he shapes the wood using rubber bands to mold cowboy hats, top hats, garden hats, even baseball caps.
A wooden baseball cap that Ramsey wore into town one day caught the eye of his local congressman. "You know who would really love a hat like that?" asked Representative Harold Rogers. Ramsey began sculpting a Texas-style cowboy hat from English walnut. When the hat was completed, Congressman Rogers personally delivered it to the president. "He went nuts over it," says Chris.
Now the orders won't stop. Chris has made hats for Vice President Cheney, Hank Williams Jr., and Tom Cruise. And yet, it's the reaction of the president that gives goose bumps to Chris. "The most powerful person in the world likes my stuff. Man, pinch me."
DEAN BLAINE frequently wirtes for ATTACHE. He is based in Las Vegas, where he finds any hat, wooden or otherswise, a necessity in summer.
(Reprinted from Kentucky Homes & Gardens
July/August, 2004)
Master craftsman Chris Ramsey uses his wood turning expertise for more than just exquisite vases and bowls. Elegant headwear is also part of this Somerset artisan's repertoire.
When one thinks of artisan-level wood turning, the first things that come to mind are elegant bowls and vases created of rare and beautiful woods.
Chris Ramsey of Somerset does all that. But his newest innovation in wood-turning craftsmanship literally has people turning their heads. He creates light, wearable hats out of elegant woods. The results have been so popular that one of the wearers of Ramsey's wooden hats is none other than President George W. Bush.
"I made my first hat about six years ago," Ramsey says. "I entered it in the Kentucky State Fair. Compared to what I do today, it was a pretty bad hat. It took me about 100 hats to learn how the Western-style hat can be made with wood-turning techniques."
Ramsey's wooden hat-making project continued until he won Best of Show honors in the Fine Arts Division at the 2000 Kentucky State Fair.
Turning wooden hats is a tedious process. Ramsey starts with a block of hardwood that measures a minimum of 18 inches across and is 20 inches high. If the wooden block is ambrosia maple or another hardwood, it can weigh as much as 120 pounds. When he has finished turning a life-sized hat, the finished product typically wieghs between seven and ten ounces. The three thirty-seconds of an inch thickness of the wood of a completed Ramsey hat is accomplished by the artist's instinct and experience alone. Ramsey does not use calipers in his wood-turning efforts.
Following the turning process, each hat is hand-sanded and given 20 coats of lacquer to achieve a sheen designed to bring out the beauty of the wood.
"In turning a hat, I prefer using green heartwood. It doesn't crack or split like drier wood does," Ramsey said. While turning the block of wood, Ramsey keeps a bright light focused on it and a spray bottle of water nearby. As the hat takes shape, he sprays the wood to keep it moist and prevent its destruction from the pressure of his chisels.
Finesse comes into play when the wood becomes wafer-thin. The bright light Ramsey has focused on the hat actually shines through the wood, which has become so thin as to be translucent. "I've learned to judge how thin the wood is by how bright the light is that shines through it," he states.
"The first hat I turned took about 20 hours to make," Ramsey notes. "Now I can turn one in somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour-and-a-half. I can now create any style of hat I like."
Ramsey's hat designs include bowler, cowboy, Western, Outback, and baseball- cap patterns. "I know that University of Kentucky (UK) fans might not like this, but one of my early customers asked that I carve a wooden 'T' for the University of Tennessee and put it on the front of the hat I made him," Ramsey recalls. "That has branched out to where I can put corporate logos, initials, and other insignia on hats I make."
Along with the president of the United States (his hat size is top-secret information, according to Ramsey), wearers of the handmade wooden headgear include UK Basketball Coach Tubby Smith, Hank Williams Jr., and Tommy Lasorda. "One great aspect of the job is that I get to meet a lot of cool people," Ramsey remarks.
"The difficulty in making these hats doesn't have to do with the size of the head," Ramsey says. "It deals with the head's shape. Turning a perfect circle is relatively easy, compared to the oval shape of the human head."
Ramsey has received orders for his hats from all over the world, including requests from Japan, Italy, Aurtralia, Denmark, Scotland, and Finland.
Wood for Ramsey's projects comes from trees that have been felled by storms or cut down during construction projects. A number of customers have commissioned Ramsey to use wood from a special tree on their property that has fallen victim to disease or a storm.
Originally from New York City, Ramsey's path to Kentucky has come through California and Utah. He has not always been an artist. "I used to have a business where I made a lot of money, but was always surrounded by unhappy people," Ramsey states. "Now I have a job where I'm surrounded by happy people all the time. These hats make people happy. It's great."
Ramsey is a member of the American Association of Woodturners, Southern Highland Craft Guild, Kentucky Guild of Artists & Craftsmen, Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation, Kentucky Craft Marketing Program (a program of the Kentucky Arts Council), and Sheltowee Artisans.
Among the places where Ramsey's work is displayed is both locations of Artique in Lexington. He also maintains a Web site that features his work at: www.knot-head.com
Above: Ramsey demonstrated his turning techniques at Lexington Center recently. He begins his hat-making process with a round block of wood weighing more than 100 pounds.
Nearing the end of the turning process, Ramsey uses light ot judge the thickness of the wood while turning a hat design. He turns the wood to a thickness of three thiry-seconds of an inch.
Somerset resident Chris Ramsey makes one-of-a-kind hats out of wood.
He has now started to turn bowls with a natural edge. Ramsey is participating
in the Berea Arts and Crafts Fair this weekend. He will be giving demonstrations
of his wood turning process and have examples of his work on display.
Local hat maker gaining national reputation
They aren't just hats.
Not by any stretch of the imagination.
What Chris Ramsey creates from a large block of wood is, indeed a
work of art.
And to that end, Ramsey has recently been invited into two very prestigious
art fields - the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen in Berea and
Southern Highland Craft Guild in Asheville, North Carolina.
Ramsey is what is called a Wood Turner and he has been widely recognized
and praised for his unique wood hats
As some of you may remember, Ramsey's unique art was featured several
months ago in the Commonwealth Journal. Since that time, he has expanded
his art to include other priceless works. Ramsey begins with a 90 to
120 pound block of wood and takes the block and shapes it into a hat,
which, when completed, weighs approximately 7 to 10 ounces. That's pretty
light when you consider that the average felt hat weighs roughly 13
ounces.
"I take great pride in locating the perfect piece of wood for
each work of art," Ramsey said. "The wood is turned green
in order for the bending and shaping to take place. I create a variety
of hat types, from the traditional cowboy hat, to bowler, derby, baseball
cap, golf, Outback hat, woman's sun hat, fishing hat, top hat, dressage
hat and miniatures of all of them."
In addition to his one-of-a-kind wooden hats, Ramsey also creates
magnificent natural edge, with the bark, wooden bowls or platters.
Not only has Ramsey gained a reputation for his fine work, but he
has also been widely recognized throughout the country.
When invited to participate in the Southern Highland Craft Guild,
he was admitted with a perfect score - a rarity in the art world. He
has also received additional awards, including Best of Show in the Arts
and Crafts Division of the 2000 Kentucky State Fair. Ramsey has his
works exhibited in a variety of galleries in the United States, including
the Kentucky Art and Craft Gallery in Louisville, The Log House Craft
Gallery in Berea and the Folk Art Center Gallery in Ashville. He will
be featured as a premier demonstrator for the Kentucky Guild's Spring
Fair in Berea.
Chris Ramsey with Christine Todd Whitman,
Administrator, EPA
Logan Ramsey in Background (wearing his Box Elder Wood Hat)
His hats are now being worn by some pretty important
folks, too. Ramsey has made hats for Congressman Hal Rogers and has
been asked to make a wooden hat for President George W. Bush. Ramsey
recently met with Christine Whitman Secretary of the Environmental Protection
Agency, and measured her head for one of his custom fit cowboy hats.
Carol Coffey, CJ News Editor,Commonwealth Journal May 18, 2001
by Carol Coffey, Commonwealth
Journal News Editor
November 3, 2000
Ramsey takes art form to the head of
the class.
If you say knock on wood around Chris Ramsey,
chances are he'll tap his head, but not for the reason that you think.
For a while now, Ramsey has been perfecting his talent of making
hats out of wood -- making him Somerset's own Mad Hatter -- or Knot
Head, as he calls his venture. He crafts hats of all kinds, from top
hats to baseball hats.
Ramsey said the first question he is generally asked (including
the first question asked by this reporter) was if his hats were heavy.
Indeed, they are not heavy at all -- weighing only ounces.
Before we tell you how Ramsey came to learn and love his new found
passion, we should probably tell you how he came to these parts.
Ramsey was part of the rat race, working in the construction of
commercial building. When construction began dropping off, Ramsey said
he was looking for a little rest and relaxation.
To that end, he grabbed his boat and headed for Lake Cumberland.
He has never left.
"I just wanted a break from the rat race, Ramsey said. "I
grabbed my boat and was going to play around for the summer."
One reason Ramsey decided to stay put was that he met a lovely
young lady -- Kathy Whitaker.
The urge to settle down and marry Kathy struck and Ramsey decided
to turn his attention to his career. The couple now have a three-year
old son, Logan, and another child due in February.
Ramsey worked for Alliance Bank (now Area Bank) handling their
technology but found himself working more and spending less time with
his family.
Deciding that he could be his own boss, make enough money and spend
more time with his family led him to form American Network Cable. Ramsey
now works several days a week running computer cable.
Ramsey seemed to have the life of his dreams -- a wife and family,
a job that allowed him to spend time with his family and away from the
rat race.
But Ramsey's life was destined to take a turn -- wood turning,
that is.
The Knot Brothers?
Chris' identical twin brother, David, purchased
a Delta lathe. David told Chris about his purchase and then paid his
brother a visit.
"He just showed up one day," Chris said, adding that
his brother brought him a gift -- a lathe.
Chris said he began tinkering with the lathe and found his new
toy addictive.
"It's instant gratification to take a chunk of fire wood and
turn it into something," Chris said.
His first 100 pieces, Chris said, were turned on the Delta lathe
from his brother. They weren't intricate or fancy and Chris said he
spent most of his time learning about turning. For the most part, Chris
produced vases, hollow-forms, goblets, plates and bowls.
Then, deciding to move onto bigger and better things, Chris purchased
a state of the art 1,000 pound lathe and drove to Ontario, Canada to
get it.
"I wanted to do bigger pieces," Ramsey said.
He gave away his first 100 pieces -- the pieces on which Ramsey
was honing his craft. If they gave people pleasure, he said, he let
them have it.
Putting on a different hat
What began as an interesting hobby has become
more than that to Ramsey. Now, after spending hours and hours learning
about turning hats, Ramsey says he enjoys making "any hat you can
imagine."
Some of his more beautiful works of art include top hats, sun hats,
cowboy hats, and bowlers. His personal favorite is the cowboy hat. The
most difficult hat to make, Ramsey said, is the baseball cap.
All Ramsey's hats begin as a big block of green wood. Ramsey turns
the block into its approximate shape and using four tools, turns the
block of wood into a hat.
Turning the wood will only get you so far, though. Ramsey
explained that each cell in the wood has water in it. After turning
the hat into its general shape, he then uses rubber bands to bend the
wood. As the wood dries, it's shape begins to form. For 24 to 36 hours,
Ramsey "baby sits" his work in progress to make sure it doesn't
bust.
Ramsey said when he sees a block of wood, he can usually see the
hat in it before he begins working.
Although he was embracing his new hobby for the sheer love of it,
Ramsey would soon learn that there were other rewards that came attached
to turning hats.
Reaping what you turn
Roger Olafson, the owner of Woodcraft, as
store in Louisville, saw something special in the work that Ramsey was
doing. So impressed was Olafson that he asked Ramsey if he would be
interested in being the featured artist at Woodcraft's booth at the
Kentucky State Fair in Louisville.
The offer was for Ramsey to set up shop as the showcase artist
for virtually the entire run of the fair. Instead, Ramsey agreed to
demonstrate his craft for four days.
"That's how this thing started," Ramsey said of what
has become one of his most proud moments since he began making wooden
hats.
While setting up his temporary workshop in Louisville, someone
mentioned to Ramsey that he should enter some of his hats in the state
fair competition.
Thinking that would be interesting, and knowing he was working
on one of his most impressive hats to date, Ramsey thought he would
give it a shot.
In the end, the three hats submitted by Ramsey garnered three blue
ribbons and one hat, a stunning, dark top hat brought him the highest
honor in the arts and crafts division. Competing against the roughly
4,300 entries in that field, Ramsey's top hat received the Merit Award
from the Ohio Valley Art League.
He also received kind words from famous columnist Byron Crawford,
who said Ramsey's work was one of the top ten sights to see at the state
fair.
Ramsey said it was almost surreal seeing his wooden top hat displayed
in a case by itself covered in ribbons.
Another reward for Ramsey is that his works of art are selling.
Ramsey sold his first hat at a symposium in North Carolina. From the
shows and events that Ramsey had attended, the number of orders for
his wooden hats have steadily increased--and so have the proceeds from
his wares.
So with four tools--two bowl gauges, a parting tool and a Oneway
Termite cutting tool--a handed down wisdom of his mentor and a belief
that within a chunk of wood lies something of beauty, Ramsey continues
with his passion.
If you would like to see how Ramsey turns a hat, he will be demonstrating
at the Sheltowee Artisans Holiday Open House at the Center for Rural
Development on November 10, 11 and 12. On Friday, Ramsey will
be at the Center from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to
5 p.m. and on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission to the event is
free. You can also visit Ramsey's web site at http://www.knot-head.com or artist@knot-head.com.
Picture captions: (Pictures are unavailable)
Picture 1 Somerset's own Chris Ramsey is one of the few people in the world
who can turn a chunk of wood into a beautiful hat. To learn more about
Ramsey and his unique art, see Old Country Store, Page C4.
Picture 2 Chris Ramsey, left, is pictured with his friend Johannes Michelsen,
right.
Picture 3 Above, Ramsey is pictured turning a large block of wood that will
eventually become one of Ramsey's light wooden hats. Ramsey says
turning wood into hats has now become a "passion."
Picture 4 Ramsey uses only four tools to make his wooden hats. Among the styles
that Ramsey has turned are top hats, cowboy hats and sun hats.
Picture 5 Ramsey is pictured at left with his lathe, the beginnings of a wooden
hat in the middle and the finished product. The baseball cap Ramsey
is wearing is also a wooden hat. Ramsey said the baseball cap is the
most difficult hat to make because of the bill and carving on the front
of the cap. A top hat Ramsey made received the merit award from the
Ohio Valley Art League.
Somerset--Chris Ramsey is a Knot Head, but it's not his
head that's made out of wood-- it's his hats.
Lining the driveway outside his white Cape Cod House in Pulaski County
are more than a dozen large black trash bags. "Those are full of
wood shavings and sawdust," he said. Sometimes it's worse. Right
now it's not too bad."
Beyond the trash bags are a half-dozen cut logs and a couple of northern
California burls--those wart-like knots you find on tree trunks. These
are exotic looking, almost with another-world feel. " I don't keep
as much here as I used to," Ramsey said. "If I did, my wife
(Kathy) couldn't get her car in the driveway."
"My neighbors just love me," Ramsey said with the hint of
sarcasm as he started his 36 inch Stihl chain saw. Over the ensuing
roar he shouted, "they really love me on Saturday mornings."
With the chain saw, Ramsey quickly chips away at a carefully selected
cut of a downed Kentucky tree. Within three hours, using the 1,000 pound
lathe in his basement, Ramsey will have created from a 100-plus-pound
choice piece of cherry wood a 7- to 10-ounce hat-a one-of-a-kind piece
of art, rivaling the creations of some of the world's best wood turners.
The wood must be green so that once it is turned, it will be flexible
enough to bend into the shape of a well worn chapeau. Ramsey looks for
wood others might discard. The unique beauty of the hat is based on
the grain; the inclusion of bark and imperfections caused by, among
other things, the Ambrosia beetle.
The finished product will bring four digits in the growing number
of galleries carrying Ramsey's work. He has drawn the attention of numerous
woodworking magazines, his hometown Commonwealth Journal and Courier
Journal, columnist Byron Crawford, who called Ramsey's wood turning
a "must see" during his first appearance at the Kentucky State
Fair.
"This
is something I truly enjoy. It's fun," said Ramsey, who, when not
turning hats for everyone from President George W. Bush, owns and operates
America Network Cable, which runs cable for computer networks. It was
through fifth district U.S. Representative Hal Rogers--for whom Ramsey
did some cable work--that Ramsey was able to get President Bush's measurements.
Rogers has two of his hats on display in his Washington D.C., office.
"I've made a hat for former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman, Ramsey
said.
"I've been trying to get in to see Gov. (Paul Patton) so I can
measure his head," Ramsey said. "It'll only take a second,
but he's been pretty busy."
Ramsey began wood turning as a hobby, but it soon turned into a passion,
and he was off to study under the masters, including Rude Osolnik David
Ellsworth, and Johannes Michelsen.
Among the hats Ramsey makes are bowlers, top hats, sun hats, and cowboy
hats, his personal favorite. The most difficult, however, is the baseball
cap. "If you can imagine it, I can make it," Ramsey said.
The step-by-step directions for making wooden hats can be found on
Ramsey's web site at www.knot-head.com, but in a nutshell, Ramsey first
measures the head for size and shape. (Mine is rather large, almost
identical in size and shape to Osolnik, the dean of American wood-workers
who passed away in November, and similar to that of Representative Rogers.)
He then selects the wood and, with the chainsaw, he cuts the log into
a "blank," which is approximately the size of the hat, including
the brim.
Ramsey then rounds the blank on his lathe. Within minutes a hat begins
to take shape. After the outer shape is determined, he begins to hollow
the hat, beginning at the outside of the brim and working toward the
center.
When he's done, the hat will be 3/32nds of an inch thick, except for
the hatband, which is slightly thicker. After any excess wood is removed,
the hat is sanded and the hat band is burnished with Ebony, Padauk,
Purple Heart or Rosewood.
The hat is then bent, using a form and rubber bands. After three to
five days of bending, shaping and drying, the hat is hand-sanded and
finished with 20 coats of lacquer.
At any point during this process, the slightest slip can render the
hat a total bust. "I've blown up many hats," he said. "One
blew up yesterday."
With my hat, Ramsey was fortunate. "Your head shape is nice for
making wood hats," he said. "It is the long oval shaped head
that requires some radical bending to achieve the final shape."
The 39-year-old Ramsey, father of Logan, 5, and Jonathan, 2, is a
native New Yorker who came to Lake Cumberland on vacation and never
left. He is one of the more than 280 artists and craftsmen who will
be on hand for the 20th anniversary of Kentucky Crafted: The Market,
March 2-3 in South Wing A of the Kentucky Fair and Exhibition Center
in Louisville.
The craftsman who might upstage everybody, though, is Chris Ramsey
of Somerset. Ramsey makes hats out of hardwoods: walnut, red oak, black
oak, cherry. Wearable hats.
"Actually, they're comfortable," Ramsey said.
He was wearing one while doing some work in the office of U.S. Rep.
Hal Rogers last year, he said, and Rogers commissioned one for himself.
Then a second one. Last month, Ramsey met Christie Whitman, the new
head of the Environmental Protection Agency, who commissioned one.
Through a complicated set of subsequent circumstances and events,
he's now been commissioned to make a hat for President Bush. He's waiting
on Dubya's hat size to be faxed to him: Whitman is allegedly measuring
the prez's head.
Ramsey has been making wooden hats for only a year. He sold 160 in
that time. "I sold a world of them at Derby time," Ramsey
says. You can check it out on the web at http://www.knot-head.com but
a visit to Indian Fort will allow you to see the real thing firsthand.
And have your head measured with a curvex ruler, if you're so inclined.
Downtown Has Its
Day - Miss America Joins Derby Breakfast Crowd
Miss America 2002 Katie Harman, dressed in light blue
and white, was a big hit on the Old Capitol grounds at the Governor's
Kentucky Derby Breakfast Saturday morning. So was Gov. Paul Patton's
smooth brown walnut wood Derby hat, made especially for him by craftsman
Chris Ramsey of Somerset.
The walnut hat looked
good on Gov. Paul Patton
Governor Patton
The walnut hat looked good on Gov. Paul
Patton. His Derby cover was a spectacular piece of wooden headgear.
And no wonder. With the state's Republican leaders trying to corner
and pummel him, he needs the extra protection….A reporter who wrote
about Patton's walnut Derby hat let a smart-alecky Republican congressman
from Louisiana say that he heard our Governor has a "wooden personality,
too." That's a cheap shot, as I can testify.
Hats are always a topic of interest at the Derby, but rarely on male
heads. Gov. Paul Patton turned that tradition on its head yesterday,
sporting a Stetson-style chapeau crafted by Chris Ramsey of Somerset
from one solid piece of walnut. Patton said he thought to himself, "I
need a hat like that," when he saw Ramsey's display at the annual
Kentucky Crafted market in Louisville six weeks ago. "It's unique.
I'd never seen anything like it," Patton said. "It's Kentucky-made,
fine workmanship." The hat wasn't a hit with everyone, though,
and when U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., heard about Patton's wooden
topper, he quipped, "I heard he had a wooden personality, too."
"This
is something I truly enjoy. It's fun," said Ramsey, who, when not
turning hats for everyone from President George W. Bush, owns and operates
America Network Cable, which runs cable for computer networks. It was
through fifth district U.S. Representative Hal Rogers--for whom Ramsey
did some cable work--that Ramsey was able to get President Bush's measurements.
Rogers has two of his hats on display in his Washington D.C., office.
"I've made a hat for former New Jersey Gov. Christie Whitman, Ramsey
said. 
