Handmade items are becoming a thing of the past. At least that’s what woodworker Jeremy Tong is trying to prevent with the beautiful bowls he and his father, Reid Tong, have been making since 2014.
Jeremy’s grandfather Maurice gave him a 1934 wood lathe so he plugged it in and started practicing with it.
“We hooked it up and went to town with it and haven’t stopped since — well, except for a few upgrades,” said Jeremy.
The Tongs start their bowls by layering and gluing a few pieces of wood together, turning it on a lathe into the desired shape, sanding with several different grits of sandpaper and apply a lacquer to the outside to seal and protect the wood.
“My Dad & I, we’ve been pretty handy with stuff and we’ve always done stuff together around the house so I guess we learned as we went,” said Jeremy.
Jeremy assures, however that it isn’t as easy as it seems and they have come a long way since their first piece. Both Jeremy and Reid have kept their first bowl as a keepsake of how far their quality has come in just a short time.
Now they own Tong’s Wooden Bowls, a small business which displays and sells bowls at craft shows and festivals around the Tri-State including Middlesboro, Cumberland Gap, Morristown, Cosby, Knoxville, Dandridge and Berea.
They are proud of their business and enjoy what they have learned about their craft and themselves while making their bowls.
“It gives me and Dad something to do together and talk about where we want our business to go next. I’ve never had a business background, but this has really helped us learn what people want and how we can make that for them,” said Jeremy.
They like working together and keeping an art alive that is becoming antiquated with the progress of technology.
“It’s really fun to work with your hands and it’s going obsolete because it’s time-consuming. We’re bringing back old school and that’s what we like about it,” said Jeremy.
Jeremy also works as a shipping clerk at Smithfield and is married to his wife Christine of 10 years. They have a son, Pierce who is 6.
Reid is retired from Smithfield where he worked as a plant superintendent for 34 years. He is married to his wife Deb of 40 years.
More information about Tong’s Wooden Bowls can be found on Facebook by searching for the name of their company.
Reach Kelsey Gerhardt at 606-302-9093 or on Twitter @kgerhardtmbdn.
