Boomerang builder being profiled

Cryderman's hobby in segment of Discovery's How It's Made

Canada's "boomerang" capital!

That's likely to be Chatham's latest claim to fame, thanks to a little-known hobby by local business entrepreneur John Cryderman.

The Thames Street resident will be featured in a "How It's Made" segment on the Discovery Channel next fall

A four-member television crew from Montreal spent Tuesday filming Cryderman in his basement workshop where he hiis been churning out boomerangs since 1978.

He said he first received world recognition in 1994 after producing a pair of boomerangs for Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana.

"Former Chatham businessman Richard Baron and his wife personally delivered the boomerangs to the royal couple at St. James Castle on my behalf," recalled Cryderman. "The gifts, complete with gold and silver inlay, were valued at more than $22,000."

Cryderman, who turns out hundreds of boomerangs annually, said he was surprised when he was called by a Montreal film production company wanting to film his hobby.

Yves Martin Allard of Maj Productions, said Cryderman is one of a half dozen inventors being filmed this week in southwestern Ontario and Michigan.

Other segments will feature wood canoe paddles made in Cambridge, transmissions produced in Windsor, crash test dummies in Plymouth, Mich., and bumpers in lonia, Mich.

Martin Allard said each of the segments will be aired next fall. The Discovery Channel is seen worldwide in more than 185 countries.

Cryderman, best known for his production of wood and arts and crafts shows, said his interest in boomerangs began after reading about them in a magazine while sitting in a dentist's office in 1978.

Since then, he has developed more than 180 different designs of boomerangs, each weighing between two and five ounces.

"Most people think the boomerang originated in Australia," said Cryderman. "Actually the first recorded boomerang was in Poland but they date back to the stone age."

Cryderman said the majority of his sales are In the U.S. and Europe. He advertises on his own website, worldsgreatestboomerangs.com.

"Most countries, with the exception of ' Canada, have their own boomerang clubs and associations," he said. "For some reason they've never really caught on in Canada."

Cryderman said his single largest order was for 50,000 boomerangs by a New York businessman.

"I even received an order for 300 boomerangs as gifts for employees of the bankrupt Enron Company in the US.," he said.

Cryderman makes his boomerangs, which sell on average for $40, from aircraft-grade plywood and strip laminated hardwoods. "They're neat," said Martin aAllard. "I think a lot of television viewers will enjoy the segment on boomerangs.