A Waiting List That Does Not Lose Clients
I remember sitting in my studio three years ago, staring at a stack of rejected walnut chair prototypes that felt more like failures than lessons. I was obsessed with the…
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Getting a Piece Out of Four Boards
I have a shelf in the back of my studio filled with what I call my “ghosts”—half-finished joinery samples and slabs of walnut that were ruined because I trusted a…
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Charging for the Third Redesign
I was staring at a pile of rejected walnut joinery in the corner of my studio—each piece tagged with a note about why it failed—when I realized that most “professional…
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Choosing Boards in the Yard
I’ve spent enough time in lumber yards to know that the industry loves to sell you on the idea of “perfection.” They’ll point to a slab of flawless, clear-grain maple…
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A One Page Commission Agreement
I remember sitting in my studio ten years ago, staring at a beautifully machined walnut joint that was, quite frankly, a disaster. I had spent three weeks perfecting the geometry,…
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Quoting Eight Weeks and Meaning It
I have a shelf in the back of my studio filled with half-finished joinery and bent plywood that never quite made the cut. Most people look at a finished chair…
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Frame and Panel and Why It Exists
I was staring at a pile of walnut offcuts last Tuesday, wondering why I still felt that familiar knot of anxiety every time I approached a new commission. Most tutorials…
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Designing Storage From What Goes in It
I was staring at a stack of failed joinery samples in my studio last Tuesday—the ones I’ve kept in a corner for years—when I realized how much we lie to…
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Deposits and Why They Protect Both Sides
I remember standing in my studio ten years ago, staring at a pile of expensive walnut slabs I’d already paid for, waiting for a client who had promised “to be…
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Mitres That Close All Round
I was staring at a pile of expensive walnut offcuts last Tuesday, wondering how a single degree of error could turn a precision frame into a collection of expensive kindling.…
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