From Scrap wood to finished works of art

How it all started

     It seems like not too long ago when I had my first experience with wood working in a classroom environment which was during my time in middle school. During this time, I was very young and entrusted to work with hand tools and power tools to create projects from scratch. I learned from an early age what it meant to work with my hands. 

     I am the type of person that will go above and beyond in terms of complexity and creativity when it comes to something that I love to do. It seemed like every project I was assigned in wood shop wasn't complex enough for me. I always wanted to see how far I could take it to create something awesome. My first high school wood shop project was to build a box. Naturally, I had to make it more complicated just to see what I could turn it into. I ended up making the box quite large and making an inlaid mosaic for the lid. It was during this time that my shop teacher saw my serious interest in wood working and began to teach me wood turning.

     In my last 2 years of high school, I went on to build some pretty amazing things such as a large china cabinet as well as a vast amount of complex wood turned bowls many of which I still have and are stored in the china cabinet. It was a rare experience and I took every spare amount of time I had in high school and spent it in that shop. During my final year, I had so many credits towards graduation that I was able to have free class time where I spent in the shop. With all the free classes I had, I was spending about 3-4 hours a day making projects. 

Present Day Wood Shop

     The present day wood shop took a lot of courage, dedication, and serious thought for me to actually commit to creating. The upfront cost of machinery and tools alone is not something for an unemployed college student to even consider. It wasn't until a 2nd cousin of mine gave me a phone call to travel up to his shop and made a few projects that I finally made the decision to start my own shop. This was about the time I started hunting on cragislist looking for used equipment and tools. I made a few good scores and my garage shop started with a table saw, lathe, and a drum sander and this was in June of 2014. 

       This was what my shop consisted of for quite a few months. I loved getting up in the morning to do something that I loved. It quickly became a happy place for me where my worries college grades and retail jobs melted away. As time went on, I started doing some shows and found quite a lot of success selling my craft. Enough so that I was able to start buying new machinery. 

      I am now the proud owner of a fully functional wood shop that consists of a wide array of heavy equipment and hand tools to continue my craft and do what I love each and every day. I still have a long road ahead of me and a lot to figure out. 

Handcrafted Quality

     I strive to make the best quality product that I possibly can with the tools at hand. Everything starts at the lumber yard where I am able to inspect each piece of lumber for character and quality. Once back in the shop, each piece is planed down into usable lumber. It is then cut to the best of my ability to make each piece fit perfectly for a seamless design. I have very high standards everything that I produce and I will not sell something that does not meet my standards of quality.