About Me

I am a research scientist at the United States Environmental Protection Agency. My passion is woodworking, however. I like nothing better than messing about in my shop, making things and exploring ideas. My father grew up self-sufficient on a farm in North Dakota. He made everything he needed in his shop and called it “implementing”. I like to think that I have inherited some small aspect of that approach to life.

I am particularly intrigued by the techniques and technology of woodworking in the 18th and 19th centuries. I find the old tools, particularly handplanes, to be endless fascinating and it is my goal to understand these tools to the greatest extent possible. I use these handtools and handtool skills in my woodworking and feel that it reflects my reverence for the wood, for the tools and for the capabilities and ingenuity of those craftsmen.

I would say that the furniture I have made is contemporary with serious traditional influences. I like to incorporate handplaned moldings into my work and all of the joinery is handcut. I work carefully and with attention to detail, believing that my goal is to become one with the piece I am working. From a furniture history point of view, my influences come from the Shaker, Chippendale and Queen Anne and more recently the Windsor styles.

I have an extensive collection of handplanes, including over 700 molding planes and wooden benchplanes, some dating back to the time of the American Revolution. I have a particular interest in handplanes for window sash making and in planes made by Josiah King (working in the Bowery in New York City in the mid 1800-s). My collection includes sets of both metal and transitional Stanley benchplanes as well as sets of metal dadoes and rabbets. I also have a pair of Stanley 45 and 55 planes, with complete sets of cutters including an additional optional set of 50 cutters for the 55. I have never met a handplane that I did not like!