My son and me
Looking out on the Arctic Ocean.
Northern Iceland, August 2019
I’ve been woodworking since 2015. My wife gifted me an open course at The Homestead Woodworking School, in Newmarket, NH. I dovetailed up a box and lined it with Spanish cedar to use as a humidor. At the time, I didn’t have a bench or a place to put one. My instructor, Alan, offered an abandoned table project from the attic of the school to serve as a bench. I ripped the top flush with the overbuilt legs, mounted a vise, screwed some home center 4x4s to the top, and I was out of excuses. I set that bench up in the living room of our 320 square foot apartment and got dust and shavings everywhere. It was great.
After my son was born in December of 2017, I urgently felt the need to put an end to my chronic underemployment and work for myself. I wanted to be able to take pride in my work, rather than bellyache about my job. I wanted my effort to translate into dollars, rather than renting my time to my employer.
In the summer of 2019, I was able to convince my wife that it was a good idea that I quit my full time job and pick up a part time gig, so I could make a real effort to start my own business woodworking. I have the best wife.