Fayetteville Observer “veteran gets back to roots with woodworking”

Rachael Riley | The Fayetteville Observer

As a kid, Kurt Ballash was drawn to two things — wood and the military.

“What draws me to wood is just the natural tones of it,” he said. “There’s no faking it.”

Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, Ballash spent time in a woodshop that his grandfather had after serving in the military during the Korean War.

His grandfather and father would craft custom cabinets, and Ballash was enthralled watching while driving nails into scrap pieces of wood.

By the time Ballash was in high school, the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon inspired him to do something.

“I knew I wasn’t just called to sit in Cleveland, Ohio. I was called for something more,” he said.

He joined the Army in 2003, starting as a combat engineer. By 2004 he was part of a new program to work with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps to train military dogs for counter explosive threats for the first time since Vietnam.

Ballash was certified as a canine handler and as a trainer. Shortly after, he deployed to Afghanistan, where his unit supported the 1st Special Forces Group.

He said he started the Special Forces Qualification Course, but later switched from being a canine handler to being a combat medic.

“While I was in the military, I’d go home on leave and spend a few days with him in (my grandfather’s) shop — picking up what I could, helping out where I could,” Ballash said.

After separating from the military in 2013, he became a contractor working with the U.S. Department of State.

When his grandfather died, Ballash inherited his tools and couldn’t stand not seeing them used.

“During the early phases when I was getting into woodworking and really kind of working through a lot of the — you can call it (post traumatic stress disorder) — I would call it more survivor’s guilt, kind of working through a lot of the battle scars so to speak,” Ballash said. “The machines running is kind of equivalent to the white noise you would listen to when you meditate. It kind of drowns out all the other noises in your head and allows you to focus on what’s really going on.”

He realized he felt most comfortable covered in sawdust in a garage with buzzing saws while creating custom wood designs.

Ballash honed his skills while working as a contractor and decided last year to apply for his business license, tax identification number and become the sole proprietor of the high end woodshop he named Ballash Woodworks. 

“I really feel like I was created to do precisely this. It feels natural to me. It feels at home. I feels like God’s prepared three generations of experience for me,” Ballash said.

The most common items he makes are furniture, custom wood pieces and ingrained cutting boards that alternate in a checkerboard-like pattern of mahogany, maple, cherry and walnut.

His wife, Jamie Smith, who is an artist, encouraged him to add leather straps and other features to the design.

A past project he’s taken on was a live edge, or natural wood edge table, with epoxy. The customer had a crystalline rock formation sticking up from the table, topaz rocks floating in the epoxy along with her grandfather’s knife, brother’s lock and other sentimental family items.

His most recent projects are repairing a china cabinet and making a pet urn with walnut and a snakewood cap the reminds the customer of her dog's fur coat.

Ballash’s vision is to expand the size of his professional shop and get to the point where he can hire other veterans. He said another veteran already volunteers at the shop.

“I try to find ways to use my business to sow into and make a difference in other people’s lives. That’s where I see the future of Ballash woodworking — being so big that I can employ several veterans and keep them active during their transition process, help them find their purpose and their passion after they exit from service,” he said.

Finding support through a group called Vetrepreneur, Ballash said he also strives to support other small veteran-owned businesses, whether it is buying glass or barbecue sauces and seasonings to go with his cutting boards.

“I feel inclined to give back to people where I can, and I feel like we were meant to connect on a lot deeper level than just drive by partnerships,” Ballash said. “I try to do as much as I can with the local community. I’d rather give my dollar to the guy that I know lives right down the street.”

To see Ballash's handcrafted designs and projects, go to ballashwoodworks.com/.

Staff writer Rachael Riley can be reached at rriley@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3528.