Not just a piece of wood

Bard McGinn, owner of Old Town Woodworks, is a respected craftsman in Kimberley, British Columbia

1 of 3Bard McGinn is happy when he is creating. — Lisa Crane photo

2 of 3This inviting corner is part of Bard McGinn's strawbale house. — Lisa Crane photo

3 of 3This is one of Bard McGinn's special creations crafted from maple wood. — Lisa Crane photo

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Bard McGinn, owner of Old Town Woodworks Co., is a quiet-spoken and thoughtful craftsman who has been providing quality workmanship in the Kootenay area for more than 30 years.

His company undertakes all sorts of projects—from new-home and commercial construction to custom kitchens and handmade cabinetry and furniture. 

A passion for wood

“Wood is my passion and a big deal to me,” said McGinn. “Creativity and putting life into a piece of wood is what I love to do.”

Starting out as a union carpenter, McGinn soon realized crafting on his own was more his style, so he established Old Town Woodworks Co. in 1981.

“I started off building a few bars in town, and then built a solar home in Cranbrook for a friend," said McGinn.

As well as liking being self-employed, McGinn enjoys the artistic outlet his job provides. He said he follows general guidelines from owners, and then he is given free rein.

“There are a lot of different languages out there,” said McGinn. “I have to take the information clients give me, translate it into what I think they are telling me, and draw a picture.”

He said he sees a definite purpose for a piece of wood. For him, he sees a start and envisions a finish for everything he creates.

“It has to have continuity and flow, and that is what I try to accomplish in a piece that I do,” said McGinn.

Small details go a long way when creating a piece.

“With anything I do, whether it is a cabinet or a house, the creative process is similar, just a different size,” said McGinn. “Sometimes it comes easily, and sometimes it takes a few days. Then it hits me like a light."

Living and building green

McGinn lives in a strawbale house that he built over a number of years at Old Town in Perry Creek. Old Town is the site of an abandoned gold mine. McGinn's house has been another passion, and it showcases the minute details of the creative process that McGinn considers so important. From the masonry stove to the sauna he built by hand to the maple cabinets that he created for his wife—it has all been meticulously researched and built.

McGinn's house is off the grid. The generator he uses charges while he works in his shop—which is the old Bayne's Lake schoolhouse that he transported to his property. This in turn charges batteries that power the house.

“We had barely any waste left after we built this house,” said McGinn. “There were a couple of pieces of tin left over, but I used it somewhere else, and a bit of tar paper—that's all.”

Future plans

“I would like to build something hybrid with timber, straw and clay,” said McGinn. “There is a lot of green building going on, which I think should be more mainstream.”

McGinn said there is a lot of opportunity for building using local materials, especially here in the Kootenays.

“It is a bit like the 100-mile diet,” he said. “We have beautiful wood here—fir, larch, pine and spruce—but sometimes it isn't considered that way.”

McGinn said the beauty emerges when you create something with the wood.

“It is just wood, but you have to give it life,” he said.

McGinn is currently working on a full-scale renovation in Kimberley; he recently completed work on the East Kootenay Child Development Centre in Cranbrook.