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California Woodworker Celebrates the United States by Replicating Important Historic Documents

June 25, 2004

East Petersburg, Pa: Bill Thurlow of Fontana, CA, wanted to encourage others to read one of the defining documents of American history. With little experience using a scroll saw, Bill decided to cut the words of the Declaration of Independence from ½” maple wood. “The Declaration of Independence is one of the most important documents we have,” he said. “It's the birth certificate of the United States, and I wanted people to read it.”

After more than 580 hours over a span of eight years, Bill completed his wooden replica of the Declaration of Independence, four times the size of the original document, and has received a great deal of attention and admiration from thousands. To accomplish the brilliant replication, Bill photocopied and enlarged the Declaration of Independence, glued the paper enlargement to ½” maple and cut each of the 1,356 words, as well as hundreds of punctuation marks, exactly as they were written and then sanded the paper off of each piece. For the 4,316 letters like “o” and “a” with inside holes, Bill drilled through the center of the letters before cutting the wood. He used 763 saw blades for the project.

When asked how difficult the project was, Bill said that it was incredibly hard, but he enjoyed the scrolling process and is especially happy with the end result. “It's all worth it,” he said. In March 2004, Bill's work was exhibited at the Ramona Country Carvers 25th annual woodcarving show in San Jacinto, Ca. “It created quite a stir among the almost 2000 people that came through our show. There was a crowd around it almost the entire show,” said Ramona Country Carver Duane Laxen. “It's as good, if not better, than any best of show I've seen in past years.”

The piece was also a highlight at the California Hawaii Elks Association Convention in Ontario in May. When the piece is not on display, it resides in Bill's home, and will not be for sale. “No amount of money could buy that,” he said. Bill's most recent scrolling accomplishment is the Gettysburg Address. Replicated at the original size that Abraham Lincoln wrote it (17 ½” x 13”), Bill's Gettysburg Address was done using the smallest blade and took nine months to complete.

Fox Chapel Publishing Co., Inc. is one of the nation's leading resources for woodworking books and magazines, and employs nearly 30 people from its restored 19th century headquarters in East Petersburg , PA. Fox Chapel publishes two magazines: Wood Carving Illustrated and Scroll Saw Workshop; more than 200 book titles; and distributes more than 1,000 woodworking books from other publishers around the world. Their web site is www.FoxChapelPublishing.com.

Contact Fox Chapel Publishing's Public Relations Department for media inquiries, author interviews, review copies, image or materials requests: (Media, Academia/Education, & Retailers only)

Public Relations Department
Fox Chapel Publishing
1970 Broad Street
East Petersburg, PA 17520
PublicRelations@FoxChapelPublishing.com
800-457-9112