LAWRENCE COUNTY – Daniel Mathis, a homeschooled 17-year-old won the Best of Show Handcrafts at the 2023 4-H Lawrence County Fair Open Class with his hand-made works of art.
Daniel has been practicing woodworking and leather-works, as well as blacksmithing since he was 10 or eleven, and most often can be found watching Youtube videos on the craft or creating them himself.
The knife, made of metal from an upcycled crowbar, took roughly ten hours to make, with time for the leather work and sewing of the sheath included. It was black-smithed on his home anvil with a coke forge.
Dwarfing this time, the wooden box featuring a hinged lid and functional drawer, took fifteen to twenty hours. Daniel said that “The hardest part was the drawer, with an inset half-blind dovetail inside the drawer, hidden until you take it out.” The rest of the box’s corners feature dovetail joints as well, with smooth, flush finishes, and precise angles.
The satchel is made of black leather and was also hand-crafted.
