March 30, 2006

Jonathon Candito is itching to get back into his workshop. "It's been a little cold, so I haven't really done much for a while," says Candito, who turns 18 in August. "I'm ready, though."

In the high-tech age of BlackBerry devices, cell phones, video games and computers, Candito, a senior at Connetquot High School, is like a lot of teenagers: He's got excellent hand-eye coordination. Unlike a lot of his peers, however, Candito isn't polishing his hand skills by mashing buttons and staring into a monitor.

Candito is a throwback, a roll-up-your-sleeves, sandpaper-and-sawdust woodworker.

"Hey, it keeps him off the streets," says his mother, Barbara Candito. "And everyone needs a way to escape, a way to relax.

"Plus, he's doing something besides playing video games."

Candito, who has been accepted into the mechanical engineering program at the New York Institute of Technology in Westbury, always has liked tinkering, especially with wood projects. He says he decided to make woodworking his "main hobby" two years ago, after visiting the annual Long Island Woodworkers' Club exhibition at Hofstra Arena. The club's 11th annual show is this weekend.

"I just got into it," he says. "I like the idea of making something from raw wood. When you complete a piece, there's a sense of satisfaction. And, whether it's good or bad, I like to see people's reactions to my work."

Candito does mostly small, scroll-saw projects in his shop, a converted 10-by-16-foot backyard shed. But as a full-fledged member of the Long Island Woodworkers' Club, which meets monthly in Smithtown, he's getting advice and feedback from some pretty accomplished amateur craftsmen. He's hoping to take on larger tasks soon.

"There are so many great people in the club who are willing to help me and others like me," says Candito, who also has a part-time job after school at Markwood Millwork, a custom woodworking and cabinet company in Holbrook. "Once you start working with the older, more experienced woodworker, you start to learn there are many different ways to do things."

Candito is among a growing number of teens new to the club the past few years. It's part of an effort by Mike Daum of East Setauket, who became club president in 2003. "I saw our membership as older," Daum says. "Active and intelligent and energetic, but older. People in their 40s, 50s and even 70s. I just believed that we should try to get younger people involved in what we do."

So, at the club's annual show the past few years, more booths and attractions were geared toward youngsters and teens. Children were instructed on how to use basic hand tools. More toys and knickknacks that might appeal to youngsters went on display. Members were urged to recruit grandchildren, nephews, daughters - anyone from the under-20 crowd interested in flipping the switch on a band saw or an orbital sander.

Daum says the response has been good. About two dozen newer members - membership is about 300-plus across Suffolk, Nassau and Queens - are youngsters and teens, he says. They include Tom Pfister, 16, a junior at Patchogue-Medford High School, and Brendon Leslie, 12, of Bohemia, who attends Oakdale Bohemia Junior High School. Brendon, a basketball and baseball player, started going to meetings in 2004 with his uncle, Peter Proffeta, and he just jumped right in. "I'm a carver," Brendon says. "And I also like the scroll saw. I like making stuff."

Pfister is huge fan of lathe projects. "It's just fun," Pfister says. "There are wood chips and shavings flying all over the place." His lathe-turning has produced urns, bowls, cups, lighthouses and candle-holders. He's made a few dollars selling items to members of his church.

For Daum, 42, the infusion of youth is a matter of tradition. "It's like how things used to be," he says. "The older generation passes down a skill set to the young. We had more of this exchange of knowledge when I was in junior high and high school with shop classes," he says. "But we have fewer and fewer tech classes in schools, and so many of the parents today do not work with their hands."

The younger membership also generates a buzz with the older crowd. Daum senses that the more experienced woodworkers enjoy mentoring, he says. Meetings are livelier. Members are more eager to share knowledge.

Candito finds that his woodworking carves a measure of respect from his parents. His mother loves the idea that her son has a productive, healthy escape from the outside world. She figures the converted shed is a place where he can find a little peace and quiet.

"Adults play golf; he works with wood," she says.

And Candito's father, Pete, who is all thumbs when it comes to hammers and nails, now has a live-in handyman.

"When it has anything to do with tools, my dad just turns to me," Candito says.

It might not be your traditional father-son relationship, but in the world of woodworking it more than makes the grade.

See saws and a whole lot more

The Long Island Woodworkers' Club stages its 11th annual exhibition Saturday and Sunday at Hofstra Arena.

What: Items on display include tools and toys. Show also features do-it-yourself seminars and a garage sale with hundreds of preowned tools for sale.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day

Where: Hofstra Arena, Hempstead

Admission: $8; children younger than 12, free. Print a discount coupon at www.li woodworkers.org. Click on the show banner for a list of exhibitors and instructions for printing the coupon.

- GARY DYMSKI

WRITE TO: Gary Dymski, 235 Pinelawn Rd., Melville, NY 11747-4250 or e-mail Gary.Dymski@newsday.com