I started woodworking back in late 1992. It began sort of accidentally; I was cutting off a thin slice of wooden dowel for some reason that I no longer recall. It was a fairly smooth disc of wood, and just for the heck of it, I sanded the faces down even smoother. When I was done, I had a glass-smooth
disc that was pretty much completely useless. However it was sort of neat (or "cool" as we used to say back in the 70's and much to my dismay say again these days). But being more fascinated by neat things than by useful things, I thought I should try my hand at another carving. In January of the next year, I made the Disc Roller, and was fairly pleased with it's combination of neatness and uselessness. I was quite prolific to start with, and in fact I made a dozen small pieces that first year.
My output has declined over the years, but the things I make have become larger. There seemed to be an irresistible force causing me to make larger items. That force is perhaps practicality or at least the illusion of practicality ("we can't find a 'whatever' that we like, so maybe I'll just make one"). But I figure it is my own spare time, so it doesn't really matter if I spend way more time on something that it is really worth.
My woodworking efforts are mostly a winter activity. I start getting interested each year again in the late fall, and then by spring, I am usually just as eager to leave it and get outside. Something to do with my windowless basement workroom perhaps. Besides, there always seems to be lots to do in the yard in the summer.
I seem to come by my woodworking interest naturally. My father had a fair amount of artistic talent, and he did a number of carvings. He could also draw, something that failed to filter down to my generation. A number of my Dad's carvings are
here. My older brother also does woodworking as a hobby, and has made a number of intricate pieces of furniture and cabinetry.
I started this web site in 2006, basing the design on one that I'd seen elsewhere on-line that I liked. The color of the side & top frame was tweaked in 2016 and then the pages were simplified a bit in 2017. The latest changes were made in 2020 to change the borders to wood (which were based on images of an antique walnut armoir we own) and to change the font to something a bit more common and more readable. And no, the main-page counter isn't broken - it was set to a fixed low number as a joke (and updated from 4 to 5 in 2018 in another thigh-slapper).
