Curled wood shavings sprinkled across Jim McLaughlin’s workspace, filling the cabin connected to the garage of his Warner home with fragrant Atlantic white cedar.
McLaughlin, a self-taught woodworker, was commissioned by the town’s beautification group to make a new welcome sign for Exit 8 on Interstate 89. The area’s existing sign had degraded over time and become infested with ants and termites.
With several carving tools and his glasses spread out across the …