In May 2011 I spoke with Jim Luton
about Beckstoffers. I ran across his
name when he commented on a post on another blog about the closing of the Mill
in 2007. I tracked Jim down and he was
gracious enough to talk to me.
Jim is the first to admit that he’s not an expert on the
Mill. However, he’s interesting because although he
wasn’t a long-term employee, he credits his short time at Beckstoffers for
profoundly influencing his career. He
also said that he still dreams about the Mill from time to time.
Jim worked at Beckstoffer’s from late 1976 to 1978 and then
again from 1980 to 81. He got this job
from a neighbor who had worked at the Mill and Jim took his place in a minimum wage
position. He credits a mentor named Albert
Forster, a lifelong millworker, for shaping how he plans out a woodworking
job.
We also spoke about the production process at the Mill. Jim stressed that it wasn’t an assembly
line. Instead each worker had ownership
of his own project. He further described
that one was often handed a set of plans, they then picked out the lumber, cut
it or shaped it as needed and put the job together.
When we spoke about the workers at Beckstoffers, he recalled
there being roughly 6 mechanics there then plus several yard guys. They were run by Jimmy Hence. Jimmy also ran the saws, both in the shed by
the fire station and in the main building.
There was a guy by the name of Andy who was a draftsman and glazer. Every now and then Luton would get to glaze a
window sash. There was a receptionist
named Page. She later worked at Richmond
Camera Shop with his wife.
He described the volume of work as being quite busy. To use his words “Business was humming along,
near capacity. Everyone worked 9 hour
days, which meant every week you got 5 hours of overtime.”
Jim did a variety of architectural millwork projects that
included circle and elliptical stairways, bay windows, arched doors, and
various historical reproductions for Colonial Williamsburg and Agecroft Hall.
He recalled making door frames in White Oak with architopes.
He also remembered doing a project for the Ethyl Corporation. He described working on the iconic cupola for their headquarters. This bell-shaped roof was milled out of old growth Red Wood and was assembled in 3 or 4 sections
For more about Jim’s work now in his own woodworking
business, go here.
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