Lew Tubby's helping hands

Lew Tubby has been turning different native woods for the past two years to make wig stands for cancer patients. Photo/Ruth Keber

Lew Tubby started making wig stands for cancer patients after his brother-in-law was diagnosed with the disease two years ago.

The 78-year-old Papamoa man has since made more than 140 stands for free.

Mr Tubby belongs to the Tauranga Woodcrafters Club and members heard other clubs in New Zealand were making stands for patients. That was about the time Lew and wife Laureen learned of her brother's diagnosis.

Mrs Tubby said: "When we discovered it, it was more or less the same time my brother got cancer, so it was Lew's idea to get it started at the Tauranga Woodcrafters Club and he has been making them since then.

"He has been the main wig stand maker but it was really the fact my brother got cancer.

"They gave him six weeks to live, but he managed to live another two and half years," she said.

"It made Lew more determined that he was going to do something to help people with cancer, the ones who had lost their hair with chemo."

Mr Tubby makes about 15-17 stands in each batch and donates them to patients who do workshops with Look Good Feel Better.

Look Good Feel Better aims to improve the quality of life of cancer patients.

Mr Tubby, who worked as a timber machinist for about 40 years, first cuts and sands the bases, followed by the stands and then the tops.

It takes him just over an hour for each stand.

Rimu, macrocarpa and pohutukawa were used and most of the wood was donated or "scrounged" from different places, he said.

The retiree said he enjoyed the time out in his shed. He also made bowls, salt and pepper pots, ring stands, spoons and much more.

"But I get a lot of fun out of making the wig stands," Mr Tubby said.

"The end use of it, the satisfaction that is going to be used and going to somebody worse off than you are."

Mr Tubby said he would continue to make the wig stands "as long as I can".