My Woodworking Journey

I was blessed with an exceptional childhood. Always encouraged to follow my passions outside of academics including sports, music and even playing video games, which in my youth meant booting up the Commodore 64 before consoles came along. I had a paper route so that I could make my own money and have the semblance of self-sufficiency.

I was granted every opportunity to chart my journey. Among many values that my parent instilled was curiosity, to continuously try to expand my horizons and independence, to develop my own interests and to take care of myself.

I followed what might be considered a rather linear and conventional path. Graduate high school, go to University, do some more University, get a desk job, build a career. I have no complaints, I was very fortunate working in the business world.

Throughout my journey I have lived in a few homes. But it wasn't until I arrived at my current house that I truly discovered woodworking. It started small, we needed to protect our garbage from the raccoons so I built a wheelie bin store, I built a porch on the front of the house to extend our living area, constructed a cooking station for BBQ season and so on. 

I was getting the hang of things and really enjoying it. Then the pandemic hit. 

Like many of us I was forced to work from home. That was manageable but figuring out how to spend my time in a productive way became more of a challenge. I returned to woodworking. It gave me peace of mind and an escape from what was happening in the world.

The next crossroads in my journey came at the end of 2022. The business I was working for was sold and I was told I was no longer going to be a member of the team. It hurt, I had spent more than 10 years at the company but now I had to decide what I was going to do next.

I took a year to deliberate how to advance my journey. My partner was always supportive of my process but time was wasting and one day she emphatically said, "follow your passion, focus on woodworking". With her encouragement and with the values my parents instilled in me I made the decision to start my own woodworking business.

So when the snow melted in the spring of 2024 I began the construction of my shop in the backyard. It took me 2 months complete but I was on my way.