Woodworking is a hobby and skill and a profession for many Americans today. I used to work with my dad in the garage every Saturday morning when I was a child. I would swing my hammer and nail two boards together. I'd like to think that that was my first introduction into working with wood. Later on, in High School I took four years of Wood Shop! I was in for a real big surprise!   In high school, as a freshman we learned to work with hand tools, like planes, miter saws and auger drills. The only power tool that we were taught to use was a small router. I built a small hexagon shaped box as my final project. The class was only a semester long and I was hooked. I signed up for it next year!

Sophomore year was only a semester and I was presented with a whole new world of wood working. From my first introduction to the table saw and numerous students cutting themselves on the band saw, I developed a healthy respect for the power that these tools contained. We were able to build multiple projects this year. I built a Shut the Box game, a folding knife style letter opener, and a turned pen/pencil cup. A wall mounted mirror was final project this year! I learned to move wood with a planer, band saw, table saw, drill press, belt sanders, lathe, and jointer! Each one terrified and excited me! I couldn't wait for Junior year!

The days of building multiple projects over the course of the semester were over. This year, the class spanned the entire school year instead of just a semester. We all had to build the same thing this year. It was one major project to complete, a curio cabinet. A 6ft tall curio cabinet, with a hinged door, mirror back, and surrounded by glass! I built upon my experience with the tools but my youthful impatience seemed to cause me to measure once, and then cut a crap load of times. Looking back, I realized that with only 1 hour of class time a day for 5 days, I didn't have the proper amount of time to devote to it. I entered my curio into the state wood working competition and came in 5th! Out of 5. Disappointing but my interest in wood working only grew, on to Senior Year! who stumbles upon this site learns something new.

Senior year allowed us to pick whatever we wanted to build. Some of my classmates were choosing to build tall standing clocks. Most chose to build a grandmother clock, whereas I chose to make a grandfather clock! The difference in the two styles is that the grandmother clock has straight sides, from top to bottom, and the grandfather clock does not. It was much more difficult to build than the others, and I was determined to succeed. The end result placed 4th overall in the state for clocks and my parents were so proud. I, again, was not happy with it and could see all the flaws. My friends and family did not and that gave me the confidence to enjoy my projects. High school was over and my four years of projects started collecting dust. It would be almost 30 years before I would have a wood shop of my own to really start working in!

In those 30 years I accumulated various tools and gained experience in those tools. Starting with a router and a few meager hand tools, I was on my way! I eventually built a nice bookshelf for a co-workers' wife for her scrapbooks! But my shop is missing two large items, a planer and a lathe, and it will be complete. I have been debating with myself if I want to get a jointer. I am leaning towards not getting one. But time will tell. nbsp &I built various rough construction shelving units and work shop benches and a tool cabinet! I've built shop jigs and push sticks, a miter sled and a crosscut sled, a spline sled and a zero clearance insert. Well now that my kids are teenagers and I have been able to reclaim the garage as mine, let the wood working begin!

I recently realized that I don't have any of my projects documented or cataloged. So contained herein are the projects from high school to now. I may include SketchUp files, if I have them, and short history of each one. This site is continually growing and improving so check back frequently!