I am passionate about all things wood. I am fascinated by the incredible diversity in wood from different species of trees. I am interested in sustainable wood production, and I have cut down a number of trees (only dead or dying trees!) which I then milled and dried into lumber. I am also fascinated by carpentry tools – both antique and high tech – and I use both traditional methods and high tech methods in my production. Through this shop, I am able to share my passion with others. I love that I make items that make people happy, and that I do so with wood that was produced in a sustainable manner.
I often receive compliments on the beauty of the wood that I use. The reason that it stands out is that I am not simply purchasing surfaced alder wood or birch plywood and loading it into a laser -- I personally process rough lumber into the final product, and thus have much more control over the precise pieces of wood as well as the species of wood that I use. I use solid wood -- and only domestic lumber produced by small mills at which I personally know the people who are milling and drying the wood. Because I personally know the people milling the trees, I am able to know where the wood comes from, and I make every effort to be transparent in the sourcing of any wood used in my products.
I personally milled some of the wood from dead trees that I personally cut down. Besides that, all of the wood that I use comes from trees are removed due to construction, storm damage, disease, or pests. Most sawmills today will not use urban trees because there are often pieces of metal embedded in the tree. Nonetheless, there are a select few that specialize in producing wood from urban trees, and in doing so they are reducing waste without contributing to any manner of habitat loss or deforestation. My dream is to one day own a sawmill and log truck so that I can produce and use only my own urban lumber, but for now I am satisfied knowing that the sawmills that I purchase wood from are doing an excellent job.
While I use a laser cutter for the final production of items in the shop, there is a substantial amount of work in getting to that point. First I source the wood; recently I have been using wood that a coworker's uncle had milled from trees that were cut down to make room for his pole barn. The first step after I am back at my workshop is to cut the boards into smaller lengths and flatten them out. I face joint (that is, make the board surface flat) smaller boards with a jointer plane, but that is prohibitively time consuming on large or badly warped boards in which case I use a planer sled or a powered jointer; I then plane the other side with the power planer. After they are planed flat, I need a flat and square surface on one edge. I do all of the edge jointing by hand with jointer planes, which is shown above. I then go to the bandsaw and I resaw the boards into thin sections which are then planed into laser ready pieces.
Thanks for reading and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
I often receive compliments on the beauty of the wood that I use. The reason that it stands out is that I am not simply purchasing surfaced alder wood or birch plywood and loading it into a laser -- I personally process rough lumber into the final product, and thus have much more control over the precise pieces of wood as well as the species of wood that I use. I use solid wood -- and only domestic lumber produced by small mills at which I personally know the people who are milling and drying the wood. Because I personally know the people milling the trees, I am able to know where the wood comes from, and I make every effort to be transparent in the sourcing of any wood used in my products.
I personally milled some of the wood from dead trees that I personally cut down. Besides that, all of the wood that I use comes from trees are removed due to construction, storm damage, disease, or pests. Most sawmills today will not use urban trees because there are often pieces of metal embedded in the tree. Nonetheless, there are a select few that specialize in producing wood from urban trees, and in doing so they are reducing waste without contributing to any manner of habitat loss or deforestation. My dream is to one day own a sawmill and log truck so that I can produce and use only my own urban lumber, but for now I am satisfied knowing that the sawmills that I purchase wood from are doing an excellent job.
While I use a laser cutter for the final production of items in the shop, there is a substantial amount of work in getting to that point. First I source the wood; recently I have been using wood that a coworker's uncle had milled from trees that were cut down to make room for his pole barn. The first step after I am back at my workshop is to cut the boards into smaller lengths and flatten them out. I face joint (that is, make the board surface flat) smaller boards with a jointer plane, but that is prohibitively time consuming on large or badly warped boards in which case I use a planer sled or a powered jointer; I then plane the other side with the power planer. After they are planed flat, I need a flat and square surface on one edge. I do all of the edge jointing by hand with jointer planes, which is shown above. I then go to the bandsaw and I resaw the boards into thin sections which are then planed into laser ready pieces.
Thanks for reading and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!