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Wood Furniture News Center > Woodworker Wants New Museum
Woodworker Wants New Museum
 By
MARCIA STEFFENS
Niles Daily Star
Saturday, July 29, 2006 7:22 AM EDT
EDWARDSBURG - The saying goes, a man's home is his castle. For
John B. Sindelar, his castle will be a home for his tremendous collection
of fine tools and furniture.
Sindelar's plans include a 30,000 square-foot, multi-million-dollar
development, designed much like an European castle, with a separate
gallery for other tool collectors and dealers.
"It would be unique, with raised panel walls and beams on
the ceiling and a spiral staircase, to show off woodworking."
There would also be space for hands-on woodworking classes and
the setting would encourage "students to make beautiful things,"
he said.
Dowagiac artist Jerry Schlundt, who has painted many of the works
for Sindelar in the present museum, has been selected to do a series
of graphic art and original oil paintings for the new development.
An indoor conference hall would have kitchen facilities and a retail
area would provide tools, supplies and both native hardwood and
exotic lumber.
He is also looking for a large amount of land to also have a year-round
campground. Unfortunately, the Edwardsburg woodworker doubts it
will be located in this community.
"I need a larger population base," he said.
Even without any advertising, his museum of fine tools, cramped
into five rooms at one end of his business, Sindelar Fine Woodworking,
sees about 1,000 visitors a year.
Anyone viewing the array of tools, from prehistoric to present
day, including saws which were used to make armor and Roman surgical
tools, has come away impressed, he said.
The craftsmanship in the items Sindelar has chosen to collect shows
the progression of tools from those built by early hunters, who
fashioned stone into axes and blades, to tools created when man
had enough leisure time to turn the handles into objects of art.
A man's plane was his "paper resume," said Sindelar.
The patterns and designs would show a potential client the craftsman's
ability.
With the advent of the Internet, Sindelar has been able to communicate
with others around the world, buying and selling tools.
Sindelar travels extensively seeking additional pieces, and he
now possesses some of the finest and rarest antique tools in the
world.
"[Collecting] was never my goal," he said, adding that
his collection just snowballed.
"For every 100 I sell, I buy one really good one," he
said. "The rarest of the rare. I do research on every piece,"
he said.
About 80 percent of the items he can tell the origin and even who
made it.
"I spend two hours a night on the computer researching,"
he said
Along with collecting tools, Sindelar has collected friends and
fellow collectors. During his 30 years in the business, Sindelar
has worked on the Michigan and Ohio state houses and the Playboy
Mansion.
Sindelar and his wife, Carol, have three children, John, Justin
and Jackie, who all graduated from Edwardsburg High School.
Sindelar said his granddaughter, Jasmine, 6, is also his helper
at the museum.
Sindelar plans to open his museum on Sept. 23 and 24 for public
tours as a benefit for the Edwardsburg Area Historical Collection,
located on U.S. 12. He said the previous tour provided enough funds
to cover half of the cost of a new furnace.
http://www.nilesstar.com/articles/2006/07/29/news/ndnews3.txt
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