My Projects

I enjoy building furniture and large structures, though money and space constraints usually limit me to the former. I work most often in pine, as it is cheap and abundantly available to me, and I love the look of wood so I pretty much always use finishes that highlight the wood grain. My skills are getting more advanced and I hope to begin documenting my builds more thoroughly in the near future, maybe even in the form of videos for YouTube.

You can see some of my projects on the my projects page.

Influences

• The New Yankee Workshop with Norm Abram is an indespensible classic with most projects being completed in a single 22-minute episode. Norm demonstrates proper use of tools, many useful joining techniques, and step-by-step walk-throughs where he explains why things are done the way they are.

YouTube Channels

• Renaissance Woodworker by Shannon Rogers — Shannon builds amazing furniture with advanced techniques using almost entirely manual processes and old-world hand tools. Even if you plan on using mostly power tools, his videos will provide a good foundational understanding of the how's and why's of woodworking. He also has a blog and audio podcast at RenaissanceWoodworker.com.
• Woodworking For Mere Mortals by Steve Ramsey — Steve shows how to build a lot of projects in a moderately equipped garage workshop. His projects are geared toward being accessible for beginners, like the New Yankee Workshop with jump cuts. Good production value and weekly updates.
• GarageWoodworks by Brian Grella — Brian shows a lot of great hardwood furniture projects and jigs in his garage workshop. He explains what he's doing so you can follow along. His garage is pretty well-equipped, so he uses a number of tools a beginner may not have access to.
• Matthias Wandel — Matthias builds a lot of custom jigs and some really impressive machines incorporating wooden gears. He sells plans for some of the projects at his website: WoodGears.ca.
• John Heisz — Jon builds a lot of interesting and useful tools, jigs, and shop furniture.
• Ron Walters — Ron builds clocks and a variety of projects involving wooden gears and musical instruments.
• Jay's Custom Creations by Jay Bates — Jay's shop appears to be in an apartment and he builds a lot of utilitarian projects like jigs and shop furniture, as well as some great projects from low-grade 2x4 lumber and pallet wood. His videos have good production value with jump cuts aligned to the beat of background music during construction.
• Jon Peters — Jon builds a variety of projects from a shed to beautiful tables and cabinets, as well as painting and some other fine art. His videos are detailed and a single project may span several videos, reminescent of This Old House.
• This Old House — The classic home improvement show has been running continuously since 1979 and is now available on YouTube in the traditional television format of 22-minute episodes. They do project houses that have provided inspiration and high-level instruction for generations.
• Diresta by Jimmy Diresta — Diresta makes a lot of really interesting projects using skills from fully manual wood working to paper and metal craft. He is a regular contributor to Make: magazine. He's very well equipped and many of the projects in his videos are commissions. His videos are sped-up clips of the construction process with no narration and are great inspiration.