Story...continued.

I was hooked. In the 3.5 years since completing that first project, I have soaked up everything that I can find about the tools, techniques and materials of woodworking. My shop has undergone several expansions and transformations during that time as well. Today I have a well-equipped and very capable woodshop (I'll post pictures at some later time). Which brings me to the primary motivation behind starting this blog...the projects.

In 3.5 years I have completed somewhere close to two dozen projects. Some as quick and small as picture frames and cutting boards; others as large and complex as the cherry computer desk at which I'm sitting as I type this. Not bad considering everything else that went on in my life during that same span:

• Full-time job
• I became a dad (twice). Two daughters, Reagan is now 27 months; Gracie is nearly 4 months. More about them later...
• Countless home-improvement projects.
• Two World Series titles for the Sox...

Most of my projects were created for our household; but a few have been delivered to family and friends. I have some pictures of past projects on my local computer, and a few plans/notes in a pile down in the shop, but they're very incomplete and poorly organized. In short, I need to keep a catalog of my work. Somewhere that I can collect and keep all of the details. So that is what I intend to do here. Pictures, plans, materials, finishing techniques, etc. for all of my furniture projects will be chronicled here for consumption by anyone.

My next several posts will continue to be about past work. I would like to catch up as best I can remember on completed projects in rough chronological order. Then I'll try to keep up with posts about current and future projects as I plan and build them.

If you've read this far, you're either someone that I know or you're a woodworker yourself. Either way...thanks for reading.

Here's my story...

In the fall of 2002, my wife & I bought our first home together. We weren't yet married then, but referring to her now as my girlfriend is just too wierd. On the day that we moved in, my tool collection consisted of a few mismatched screwdrivers and a wimpy 10 oz hammer that I probably pilferred from an old roommate at 1909 Beacon Street. I hadn't the faintest idea how to identify most common tools, let alone how to use them. But as anyone who has been through the experience can tell you, homeowning quickly forces you into a potentiatally life-changing series of decisions. The major decision relative to this story? Start doing some research and acquiring some tools or face the prospect of shelling out money to painters, plumbers, electricians, landscapers and carpenters for the foreseeable future. I chose the former...mostly because I'm cheap.

Over the ensuing weeks and months, I quickly learned that with the right tools, a little assistance from the bookstore & internet, and a LOT of patience, I was capable of tackling just about anything around the house. Painting, flooring, crown molding, yardwork, electrical & plumbing fixtures all went well. I even rebuilt the treads and risers on both staircases. But something else happened; I discovered that I enjoyed working with my hands. In particular, I enjoyed building things. I was ready to take on our next problem...furniture.

Zippy and I used a 14-ft Uhaul truck to move our belongings into a 2200 sqf 3BR colonial...it took only one trip. Our new house was 1/2 empty and most of what we had weren't what you'd call "long-term keepers". I wanted to build furniture, but first I had to build a workshop. Fortunately I had the perfect space. My home has a large family room that was added a few years before we purchased it. The addition has a separate foundation basement with double doors walking out into the backyard. Unheated and lower ceilings than I'd like, but 450 sqf of unused space...more than enough for a home workshop.

So I built a crude workbench along two walls in the corner of my new shop. I bought a DeWalt compound chopsaw....then a near bottom-of-the-line Delta tablesaw...then a PorterCable router. I soon realized that I had no idea how to safely use these tools (particularly the router); I needed some hands-on instruction. Enter Alan Mitchell and his Homestead Woodworking school. After a few one-day workshops, I enrolled in a 10-week course that would take me through designing, building and finishing my first piece of furniture. Zip thumbed her way through the Pottery Barn catalog and picked out her first (of many) selections...a Shaker-style cherry nightstand from their Marston collection. This is what I came up with:

World's ugliest dog?

Meet Rocky, beloved companion to my parents. I've had this image on my computer for years and it NEVER fails to make me laugh.

1st post

Hello world! (Geeky programmer reference from a wannabe woodworker),

Welcome to my new blog. Goal for the evening achieved...more to follow later.