This is the Place Heritage Park's Master Woodworker Aaron Mc Donald teaches young apprentice

In the apprenticeship system boys, usually between ten and fourteen years old, were trained under the supervision of a master craftsman or merchant in a particular trade or profession for several years, most often until they were twenty-one. Many guilds required that the apprentices parents pay the master a fee for his services.

Through apprenticeship the guilds regulated entry into the trades, maintained skill levels, and secured cheap labor for the masters. Under the terms of the indenture (contract), the master acted in loco parentis, and the apprentice promised to serve his master well, living in his household while learning the craft. A young man who had completed his apprenticeship successfully would be admitted by a specific guild as a journeyman and allowed to work with a master craftsman for wages. After serving a fixed tenure as a journeyman and having proven his craftsmanship, the journeyman could apply to the guild for master craftsman status, which allowed him to establish his own shop and ply his particular craft.In a century when most structures were built from wood, no tradesman was more useful than the carpenter.

The main business of the pioneer carpenter was to cut and join timber and board into sturdy wooden homes and shops in the Salt Lake valley. As Salt Lake City blossomed, the demand for new homes, shops, cabinets and furniture, and their repair, grew at a rapid pace.

Visit the park and see the amazing skills, and workmanship of Master Woodwork Aaron Mc Donald who worked along side his father of Richard Mc Donald to become a gifted craftsmen. Both of these talented skill men work at the park along with others of their trade, like Stephen Shepherd, a master cabinetmaker, who is known internationally for his skills in the wood working arts, which include wood graining techniques.

These men and others dedicate their time and talents to share their love of history and craftsmanship with visitors to the park. They have found a renewed interest, and desire to learn in and young children who visit the work working shop.

For more information about the park visit http://www.thisistheplace.org
Or contact Heritage Park
2601 Sunnyside Ave (800 South )
Salt Lake City, Utah 84108
Phone: (801) 582-1847
E-mail: www.THISISTHEPLACE.ORG

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Master Woodwork
• Salt Lake History
• cabinets and furniture
• and their repair
• Mormon history
• craftmens
• Pioneer Woodworkers