Thanks for stopping by! I am a married father of three school-aged children who happens to love woodworking.
There is something about taking the raw materials, working with them, and turning them into functional and beautiful pieces that either our family or others can enjoy. It’s almost like therapy. It gives you something to focus on and an outlet for your creative side.
How I Started
My first real experience with woodworking came in high school shop class. I enjoyed making those very basic items and was always farther along on my projects than the other students.
I learned a lot by watching woodworking and home improvement shows on PBS (this was prior to Youtube’s existence). I often planned my Saturdays around watching The New Yankee Workshop, This Old House, and The Woodwright’s Shop.
As I finished graduate school and entered the working world, I was fortunate to live in a house that had a separate space for a shop. It was then that I started buying tools and doing more woodworking. It was also prior to having kids.
I made all sorts of items from headboards, to cradles, to knick-knack shelves, and TV stands to name a few. I managed to do so with an inexpensive Craftsman contractor’s table saw, an old drill press, a chop saw, and a random orbit sander. I slowly added tools like a bench top joiner, a mortising attachment for the drill press, a band saw, and a biscuit joiner. Eventually I upgraded my table saw and have added many hand tools and a planer.
Anyone Can Get Started
If my story tells you anything, it’s that anyone can get started in woodworking. You don’t have to have a lot of tools. And there are so many more options out there for learning woodworking techniques than there used to be.
Start simple. Items like knick-knack shelves and cutting boards are relatively easy to make. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and I’ll show you how I make my projects.
For me, most of my projects originated out of a need. My wife wanted shelves for the nursery, so I built them. We needed a proper headboard, so I built it too. We needed something to display the baby quilt my wife’s aunt made, so I built a quilt rack.
Figure out what it is that you want or need and build it.
