During a recent unseasonably warm afternoon, I decided to explore the backroads surrounding the thriving little town of Flora in Madison County. These trips are always a success that finds me weighed down with farm fresh eggs and sweet raw honey from roadside stands and farms throughout the area. The bonus on this particular outing was a chance meeting with Tim Hutson, a retired Mississippi attorney and avid sportsman who has reinvented himself as a local artisan of considerable note and talent.
Traveling down a narrow dusty lane lined with 100 foot pines, just off Livingston-Vernon Road, you’ll find the Hutson workshop where you can order everything from custom-made antler chandeliers to recycled oil cans made into birdhouses. While these creations will catch your eye because of their uniqueness and whimsical nature, it has been Tim’s hand-turned bowls and duck calls that have given him his statewide following.
“They’re simply the best and most beautifully made duck calls in the country,” said Mason Mahaffey, and avid local hunter.
Hutson has always been interested in restoring and repairing things, an avocation that had its beginnings when he offered to restore a family member’s wooden boat (that boat sits proudly in the center of his workshop today).
His more creative side began to blossom at light speed after a chance encounter with an Amish craftsman in Iowa.
“Anyone can throw a decent bowl on a lathe,” said Hutson, “the real challenge comes by doing it by hand with a mallet and chisel. Those skill sets were handed down to me by my Amish mentor.”
Tim’s labor intensive style is made even more difficult by his use of Burl wood, a parasitic protrusion often seen on the side of a tree as a large round growth. Hutson scours the Mississippi and Alaskan forests in search of the perfect specimens. Interestingly, these growths can be cut off without harming the tree itself. The burls are extremely dense and often take up to a year to dry. When the wood is ready it is fashioned into small and large bowls, duck calls, pens and wine stoppers. His wife Cindy calls him multitalented and we agree.
Should you venture out to Tim’s workshop, don’t be surprised if you see him working on scrimshaw being applied to 9-25 million-year-old piece of mastodon bone. Hutson spends his summers in Alaska trout fishing and often happens upon bone fragments.
“Mastodon bones are only found within the permafrost of Russia and Alaska,” he explained. It’s a lost art form that has inspired him to learn more and make it his next creative quest.
Hutson’s creations can be had exclusively at The Flora Butcher in Flora. Or you can visit him at his workshop at 201 Horseshoe Lane in Flora. Drop him an email at: timothyshutson@gmail.com.
