Our History
As a young man, I was drawn to woodworking because of my father. He would make a few small things and had a workshop out back in the barn. At the time I thought he had the best tool – the ShopSmith. He let me use it to build a few small things and gave me tips along the way. As I look back and smile about those incredible memories I have come to realize they were not the best tools, but they were the ones that lit the creative spark – and they are the “best memories” !
One of the first gifts I ever made was a pine baby cradle as a gift for my wife, in late 1981. Our oldest slept in this and now has it in his home as a keepsake. The workmanship was a bit rough, and my tools were not the best, but it came out ok.
In the late 80’s I began to build pieces of furniture for our home and as gifts. I relied very heavily on Wood Magazine for the how to and plans that I could manage.
It was always fun to see my work in our home and have visitors ask, where did you get that, only to reveal they were “home made”.
I tried my hand at wood turning in the early 90’s. I admired segmented turning, but I just didn’t have the tools nor the time to do the fancy stuff. I designed and turned both a bowl and a rolling pin. As with most things, these have been used in our kitchen for years.
In the mid 90’s, I began to get serious about building furniture. I had a basement shop and upgraded a few tools. My centerpiece was a Powermatic 66 table saw from my dad. It was an amazing machine and gave me the confidence to continue to build bigger and more elaborate pieces of furniture.
This buffet with wine displays was my first original design, with a unique glass panel door and the arched backpiece.
By the late 90’s I was willing to try almost anything. I wanted to challenge myself to do something well beyond what I had ever done.
The Grandfather Clock was the answer. I ordered plans and the inner workings from Klock-Kit and got started. Several pieces took multiple attempts but in the end they all came together for a beautiful heirloom piece.
I have since built 3 others. One for each of my two oldest as wedding gifts and the fourth I traded with my brother for a John Deere tractor.
In late 2010 we moved to the greater Pittsburgh area as empty nesters. With a new home, comes the chance to build new things. The biggest was a dedicated workshop. I drew up the plans and Joan and I got to work building the shop. When I say we built it, we did indeed. The two of us did all of the work with the exception of the footings, the concrete floor, and the shingles. We framed, sided, did electrical, plumbing, and all the rest. I finally had my dream shop.
As with all of our homes, we would continue to make it our own. I added a wine cellar to the basement and built out my home office with a custom cherry desk and cherry built-ins along with 3/4 height cherry wainscotting.
Joan decided she wanted in on the fun. She had made a few small things over the years, but decided to go big. She scoured my books and magazines and decided to build a bedroom set for our grandkids in the PA house.
She did an exceptional job on this bedroom set. We would have been hard pressed to find anything comparable in the stores.
Throughout the years we have made dozens, maybe hundreds of wonderful pieces. We enjoy handcrafting something for a special event such as a wedding, an anniversary, or a birthday.
Here is a collection of some of the gifts through the years
