This Twillingate boatbuilder has downsized to Christmas ornaments and other creations

Even at the age of 91, Jack Lane’s creativity and his need to build hasn’t waned.

The Twillingate carpenter, boat builder and jack-of-all trade toils in his workshop everyday, even if he’s taking a few more breaks than he did in decades past. And just as he did when he was building wooden speed boats, cabin cruisers or rodneys, the theme is similar — albeit in miniature.

“I’ve made lobster pots, I’ve made fish casts, like what the cod fish used to be packed in, three different sizes," Lane told CBC News.

Lane began building boats in his hometown of Englee, but he says it was more out of necessity than to ply a craft. He says it was 1961 and he wanted a boat so he had to head to the woods, cut down wood and put the boat together.

He continued to build boats when his family moved to Exploits Island, and when his mother, a teacher, moved to Twillingate he followed along, bringing with it his boat-building prowess.

“My brother-in-law, Bill Oake, we worked together and we built boats together. We done everything together,” said Lane.

Even in his busiest years, Lane says he didn’t need to work from a plan when he was building boats.

“Most of them was up in me head,” Lane said. “I don’t need a [model] boat to do it. If I knows the length of the boat, I knows the width and I knows the depth of her. You don’t  have to tell me.”

Working as a mechanic and then doing maintenance at seven local skills, Lane’s boat building was a part-time venture. And, as it turns out, not a lucrative one.

About 23 years ago, Lane built his last boat. It came around the same time he and wife Joan were downsizing and moving into a smaller home. Unable to fit a lifesize boat into his 10-by-12 -foot workshop, projects got a little smaller.

“Whatever time there is in the day to spend at it. I usually get up fairly early in the morning, but I don’t go at it so much now,” said Lane.

“It keeps me doing something,” said Lane.

In addition to the small ornaments with fishery-related items, Lane also turned to building miniatures of something he used to build life-sized while living in Exploits Island.

“Something else I’ve made lately … I make urns.”

The inspiration for these mini-coffins is due to Lane’s practicality.

“Now I’ve often thought about it  — I don’t want to go underground in a casket,” he said. “See, it’s the price I was looking  at. My brother, he was cremated,” said Lane, adding the remains were kept in a small wooden box.

“That’s all right, if that’s what you wanted, but look what you’re paying for it — $500.”

Lane has sold a bunch at $75 a pop. Not necessarily a “killing” but enough that word has gotten around and he’s taking requests.

“A girl a little while ago wanted me to give her father one for his birthday,” he said. “It was Alf, my buddy, we had a cabin together. Like I says, now, Alf is going to take that up to the stove and heave it in. He would think I was pulling a fast one on him.

“I was going to make one for [another] fella and give it to him for a piggybank. It’s only to cut a notch in it.”

How would Lane feel if he’s visiting a home and sees one of his boxes on the mantle?

“It wouldn’t bother me a bit,” he said with a chuckle. “As long as I wasn’t in it.”

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