What's All This About, Anyway?

If you're reading this, it's likely because you "stumbled" (get it?) upon it via some internet engine of searching. Perhaps you were looking for woodworking resources. Maybe you were looking for something else entirely. But, the fact remains, you made it to my lowly corner of the interwebs.

So what's all this about, really?

About a year ago, we bought our first house in Seattle, and with it came a great opportunity: a

My basement workshop. Way cleaner here than it usually is.

glorious full basement. I decided to set up a woodworking shop there, something I had wanted to do for many years — in fact, ever since I was a child. I always loved helping my dad work on remodeling projects, and grew up with the likes of Norm Abrams of The New Yankee Workshop and Roy Underhill of The Woodwright's Shop on TV. I was always fascinated by how these people could so quickly turn raw wood into something beautiful. And, of course, the appeal of power tools to my young brain (which never completely wore off). Apparently I was much more a Norm Abrams fan than Roy Underhill at the time. But, I digress.

My mom's jewelry box, straight out of finishing.

So in the past year, I've been slowly but surely building up my workshop, and learning how to make raw wood into something beautiful. I've already done a number of projects, including my latest claim to fame, an inlay jewelry box for my mom.

Then I got this great idea — I'll chronicle my adventures on a blog! Maybe it'll be useful to someone out there, and maybe I'll learn something along the way. So that's what you'll find here: projects, tools, methods, and musings of a beginning woodworker. ■