Beforehand, Branam offers a little safety lesson on the chisel — a small tool that doesn’t look nearly as intimidating as the saws, hammers and metal that fill the room.
“The key to making all of these things work is they have to be absolutely razor sharp,” he said. “Which means that the most dangerous tool in here is a chisel, because these are a big sharp hunk of metal that will go right through you. Everything else is pretty controlled.”
The woodworking lesson is one of a couple sessions Branam is offering to veterans, free of charge. A software engineer by day and woodworker by night, Branam decided to offer free classes after hearing about veterans coming back from Iraq injured and unemployed.
“It’s nice to hear people say ‘Thank you for your service,’ but I’d like to do something,” he said. “I thought, well, it’s a fun thing, you can make stuff, earn a skill — maybe some people might even be able to turn it into a profession.”
His basement workshop only holds four students, but it’s his small contribution to the veterans who’ve served their country.
“I just feel it’s our responsibility to take care of people who’ve put their lives on the line for us — in some cases, they’ve paid a very heavy price,” he said. “I figure this is just my microscopic way of dealing with that problem, four people at a time.”
Branam made the workbenches and tool racks that decorate his basement, which is lined with piles of wood.
He was previously teaching out of a friend’s barn in Pepperell, but could only do that in the warm weather.”This is just a lot more convenient to be able to do it out of here,” he said.
Continuing the lesson, Branam demonstrates the difference between a crosscut saw and a rip saw.
A retired veteran who served in Kuwait and Iraq, Curll said he always wanted to be able to work with wood.
“I fumble and I make more mistakes when I try to work on things around my house. I always like to do things on my own,” he said. “It kills me to have to pay somebody to do something that looks like it would be fairly simple.”
Judy Regan, of Auburn, came with her husband Bill. The two are both veterans — she served in the Army from 1982 to 1992, and he was in Vietnam.
The class is sort of a delayed welcome home for her husband, she said.
“When people reach out and pull you in, all of a sudden you belong again,” she said.
Bill Regan said there aren’t too many people like Branam who will actually take time out of their day. He said the classes will bring veterans out of themselves and pull them together.
When he returned from Vietnam, he told people he was in prison instead of fighting in the war.
“It was easier,” he said. “People accepted prison and they were willing to help you.”
When he returned, he couldn’t get a job.
“There was nobody to give us anything when we came home,” he said.
Regan said that two years ago, he was on the verge of suicide before a local veterans center pulled him out of it.
“Since then, I’ve been doing nothing but climbing,” he said. “This is just another path.”
