From the hands of woodworker Webb to the altar of St. Luke United Methodist Church

As the congregation at St. Luke United Methodist Church entered its sanctuary on Sunday morning, worshipers were greeted with breathtakingly beautiful new altar furnishings built locally by woodworker Tommy Webb. Webb built seven pieces including the pulpit, baptismal font, communion table, elements table and two small tables for the church.

According to the Rev. Phil Thrailkill, pastor at St. Luke, the custom made furnishings were designed to carry the church through the next 50 years and was a part of a three-part building plan for St. Luke. The first phase was the refurbishing of the sanctuary, followed by the 50-year-old roof replacement and the building of a multi-purpose and youth building. He said the state of the economy made it necessary to do the projects in three stages.

St. Luke contacted architect Hal Fuller to come up with a plan and decided on Webb as the builder.

“We commissioned Tommy Webb to build something for us,” said Linda Drayton, a member of the building committee. “He has made it so easy for us. He even made drawings to scale.”

“I laid out a full-scale drawing,” Webb said. He said this way you are figuring out the engineering part of it as you go along.

Drayton said they were able to visualize what the pieces would look like and how large each would be from his drawings.

The congregation had been out of the sanctuary since the second week in June while other renovation work was being done to the sanctuary. Sunday was their second worship service back in the sanctuary but the first with its new pulpit.

The Rev. Thrailkill said they couldn’t be more pleased with the results.

“It is beautiful,” Vickie King, church secretary, said.

One of the most interesting components of the pulpit is that it is adjustable in height. Rev. Thrailkill said, since Methodist preachers are known to move about and come in all heights, it was necessary to come up with a pulpit design that would accommodate all the preachers that might stand in the pulpit during the next 50 years. Webb came up with the adjustable pulpit that is made in two parts with pins to hold the top in place as it is adjusted.

The baptismal font, a piece that Webb is especially proud of, is a true octagon.

Drayton and Rev. Thrailkill said they feel like they have something of high quality and a real treasure for their church that will last for the next 50 years and beyond.

“It was a collaborative effort,” Rev. Thrailkill said of the project.

But it was Webb’s skill as a millworker that made it possible.

For 14 years, Webb has skillfully crafted pieces of fine furniture, cabinetry, custom mill work, doors, windows, wood moldings and wood components from his shop, Hartsville Wood Works on Westover Drive.

“I’ve always been intrigued with it,” Webb said. As far as he can trace his roots, so have others in his family.

Born and raised in Hartsville, Webb said, “My father did woodwork, and I learned from him.”

Webb said he tried to steer his life’s work in another direction, majoring in and receiving a degree in machine tool technology.

“I got a degree in it and planned for it to be my career. I loved it,” Webb said.

The 80s economy dictated otherwise, he said. “I tried it,” Webb said. “But here I am.”

Webb operates Hartsville Wood Works, the shop once owned by the late Wilmont Berry, also a well-known and highly regarded woodworker in this town. The two were neighbors, and Berry offered Webb the shop and he took him up on it.

Webb is quick to point out that his highly skilled work is not for everyone.

“What I do is not a commodity. Everyone has to have cabinets; not everyone has to have what I do,” he said.

“It is incomprehensible how hard it is,” Webb said. “(You) can’t eat pride. (You) have to be humble.”

Webb is a one-man shop and says a lot of his work is manual; however, his shop is well-equipped with the tools to do most any woodworking job. Webb said he uses a lathe to do a lot of the turning work.

Webb has found his niche and dedicates his life to it.

“There are lots of different types of craftsmen but not many woodworkers,” he added.

Webb is one of a dying breed. He said it is a difficult and often challenging job but it is what defines him. He has worked on yachts to staircases and now altar furnishings to the replica of the Parthenon, which surrounds the entry to his shop tucked away on the outskirts of Hartsville.

“This is my life,” Webb said. “And it is a full time job.”

Webb can be reached at (843) 332-3823 or online at http://www.Hartwoodworks.com.