Forest for the trees

Ericson carves out a career in woodworking

By Dustin Block

Greg Ericson keeps building on a 30-year career in woodworking. Photo by Brian Ebner/Optic Nerve

To a novice, picking out wood for a project seems pretty simple.

Head down to the local lumberyard, maybe a Home Depot, and select some nice boards to pound together for a deck or maybe the studs in a wall.

For Greg Ericson, finding the right material is an art form. And that approach is showcased in his ongoing masterpiece, the restoration of the Wisconsin State Capitol.

Ericson, 57, headed up the Madison-based team from Carley, Wood Associates Inc. hired in 1985 to basically rebuild much of the woodwork and furniture inside the public areas of one of the state’s signature buildings. Although his team took breaks from the project over the years, Ericson said he’s still working at the Capitol.

The team’s directions came from plans drafted by architect George Post between 1906 and 1918, which called for materials that were commonly used some 80 years before the restoration began.

Ericson said he searched the world for the African mahogany and quarter-sawn oak veneers needed for the project, logging 60,000 miles of travel in search of the perfect color and grain. He said a lot of the oak his team found was too green for the Capitol building, while a lot of the mahogany was too pink.

Carley, Wood’s work on the Capitol’s Assembly Chamber includes the restoration of the Assembly members’ desks. Photo courtesy of Eric Oxendorf

He had to tell the Capitol restoration board that an exact match wasn’t possible, but he was able to assure the board that the finished project would come close.

“I think it came out pretty well,” said Ericson.

Ericson, who was born and raised in Marinette and honed his craft over a lifetime, tells stories about traveling to Europe and taking a contractor around to point out the flaws in different supplies. He travels to mills to inspect the wood that will be used in Carley, Wood’s projects.

“The quality of material is determined by how it’s handled throughout the drying process,” he said. “Without going into a lot of technical knowledge, if it’s dried improperly, it leaves a sticker stain and actually leaves a colored band, maybe 2 inches wide, through the wood.

“Most people aren’t aware of it, but with white maple and cherry you’ll get these horizontal bars across it. With light woods it can be very problematic.”

Ericson has visited 15 to 20 veneer plants throughout the country, going so far as to supervise work as pieces of log are split into sections, strapped back together and cooked in a bath near boiling for as long as 30 hours. The logs are then cut into thin veneers by a huge guillotine and then baked in a large oven until dried to the proper moisture content.

The Assembly lounge in the Capitol showcases Carley, Wood’s and Ericson’s work with restored walls and furniture. Photo courtesy of Eric Oxendorf

“If you look at the stuff, you can see the actual shape of the log,” Ericson said.

Working now as an estimator for Carley, Wood, Ericson’s job is to evaluate and order the material used by the firm, which was founded in 1982 and focuses on custom executive furniture, historic restoration, high-end millwork and architectural details. He’s developed his skills through the same hands-on approach that he used to learn and teach woodworking.

His career as a woodworker began after he moved from Marinette to Austin, Texas, in 1970. He was studying to be an architect but realized he’d be working in an office for the rest of his life, and he didn’t want that career.

So he quit college and went to work as a field supervisor for Connor and Schule, an architectural and engineering company in Austin. He was then hired to teach cabinetmaking for Austin Community College.

In 1980, Ericson moved back to Wisconsin when he took a job teaching construction and cabinetmaking at Madison Area Technical College, where he has taught part-time for 27 years. In 1982, he took a job with the newly formed Carley, Wood as a cabinetmaker.

Ericson’s reputation as a craftsman and teacher has led him to work in advisory roles with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. One of his personal issues is the use of sustainable materials in construction, and Carley, Wood was one of the first firms in the country to use formaldehyde-free wood and boards made from pressed wheat stalks.

The restored wall panels, gold leaf accents and restored furniture in the Assembly lounge in the Capitol highlights the work of Ericson and Carley, Wood. Photo courtesy of Eric Oxendorf

Outside of work, Ericson builds a few pieces of furniture every year to donate to nonprofit conservation groups and Wisconsin Public Television. He begins each piece with a concept and matches the wood to the plan.

He said he mostly uses a locally grown curly maple that is relatively hard with an attractive finish. Ericson likes the maple because it’s readily available as the predominant species in Wisconsin.

Through his work at Carley, Wood, as well as on advisory groups with the state, Ericson is getting architects to use curly maple and stain it to look like cherry. He said this not only saves old-growth forests throughout the state, but it’s also a cheaper alternative.

Ericson said he is also firmly committed to technical education, which he believes is lacking in the United States. He noted that craftsmen in Europe train for years and are recognized as equals to doctors or lawyers.

“In Europe, a tradesperson is looked upon as a respected person,” he said. “In the U.S., they’re looked upon as asecond-tier person.

“We’re running out of those kinds of people — the schools are not turning them out.”

The irony for Ericson is the number of students he sees who are turning to woodworking and other trades as an escape from the office jobs they found with their college degrees. Many of the students he sees at MATC, he said, have a bachelor’s or master’s degree but can’t find a fulfilling job.

“We’re probably seeing the average age in the technical schools of mid- to late-20s, as opposed to people coming straight out of high school,” Ericson said. “I think we’re going to see more and more of that.”

But, Ericson added, while there aren’t many opportunities for people to pursue a career in the trades, the situation is improving. High schools are adding programs, and two woodworking programs in the Wisconsin Technical College System — at Madison Area Technical College and Fox Valley Technical College — are among the best in the nation. But, still, most woodworking programs have been shut down for 15 years, creating an increasing shortage of highly trained woodworkers.

“We’re starting to feed the system — we could feed it more,” he said.