Papa's Cabins and Gifts carved out of love for woodworking

Each of local artist Scott Glaze's wooden creations - geometric cutting boards, engraved wall hangings, children's toys, holiday décor - is a labor of love. The owner of Papa's Cabins and Gifts spends countless hours handcrafting one-of-a-kind pieces for customers.

After he was laid off from his job at the Wrangell Medical Center at the beginning of the pandemic, Glaze spent his newfound free time making a miniature log cabin out of cedar for his grandchildren. The cabin featured over 200 pieces and could be dismantled and reconstructed like Lincoln Logs. "They called it Papa's Cabin," he said, and the name stuck. When he later decided to turn his woodworking hobby into a small business, he incorporated the moniker into its name.

After making a few cabin sets and improving on their design through trial and error, Glaze started getting requests for cabins and other items. He spent about two years using his carpentry skills to make gifts for family and friends before his daughter suggested that he try selling his work. Papa's Cabins and Gifts was born around late 2021.

"I would have never dreamed that I'd be doing this four years ago," he said. "It's relaxing for me. I just love doing it. It'll become eight or nine at night and I don't even realize it because it's fun for me."

Glaze uses locally sourced cedar for the majority of his work. To make a cutting board, he planes rough pieces of wood down so the edges are smooth, glues pieces together, then lets the glue cure for multiple days. Then he re-planes the board and sands it. "Sanding, that takes a lot of time because ingrain board is very hard," he said. "You've got to sand and sand and sand and sand and then sand a little bit more."

Then, the cutting board is ready for a series of oil baths. Once it emerges, he gives it a beeswax coat for shine and waterproofing. "Water will run right off like a freshly waxed car," he said.

All told, making a cutting board takes four to six hours of labor, plus multiple days of waiting between the steps for glue to cure or oil to dry. More complicated projects, like tables or cabins, take far longer.

For Glaze, the process is similar to crafting a handmade quilt. "If you figure the time that they (the quilters) put into them and what you can sell them for, you're not making much money," he said. "It's so detailed and it takes so long. If you were charging a $30-, $40-hour wage, no one would buy it because it's too expensive."

He charges $600 for a cabin and $800 for a cabin that has a cedar chest to hold it. The cabins have operating shutters and doors, a fireplace covered with Wrangell beach rocks and pieces that interlock like a puzzle. Despite the high price point, he's been surprised at how many have sold at community markets. Most of them, however, he's given away to family and friends.

His more affordable pieces include cutting boards, wooden Christmas trees and coasters. Lately, he's also started making cribbage boards.

As Glaze's business expands, so do his woodworking capabilities. He's recently acquired a laser engraver that allows him to add intricate designs to his pieces, whether that's a monogram, an image of an eagle or deer or a view of the Elephant's Nose on Woronkofski Island.

Photos of his work are available at Papa's Cabins and Gifts on Facebook. He can also be contacted at 907-419-0244.