Woodworking Services

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. These days nothing is common anymore; my work consists of simple, basic cabinetry and trim work ranging up to detailed carved projects. In the past year I have done handrails and carved chessboards, fabricated and installed entry doors along with several paneled rooms. there is no pattern to what comes up.

Q. What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A. Be thorough in vetting me and everyone alse that they contact. I suggest getting a number of bids and advise them to go see previous work in person if possible. Then follow up with phone references.

Q. If you were a customer, what do you wish you knew about your trade? Any inside secrets to share?

A. I would probably want to know a lot, have similar questions, etc. But I must confess that I generally don't like to share "secrets". That's my old world training showing; we like to keep a certain amount of mystique about what we do.

Q. What important information should buyers have thought through before seeking you out?

A. They can't have too much information. A person who provides me with an intelligently organized array of ideas and hard figures like dimensions, etc is showing me that they are committed to the venture. It also demonstrates respect for my time and shows they have an understanding about some of the aspects of what such an undertaking may involve.

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. I have a very broad foundation of formal training that includes several formal apprenticeships. That combined with my natural inclination to focus on detail gives my work a finished quality that stands out from the crowd.

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. The biggest pleasure for me is being able to design and execute work that pleases me and my clients. I must confess that I do enjoy praise - it's a great motivator!

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. How did I learn to do this? Where did I learn to carve, build cabinets, etc. I tell them that I invested a lot of time - years - in training under masters of these trades and arts. I tell them that getting to where I am took a lot of patience.

Q. Do you have a favorite story from your work?

A. Ironically, one of my favorite stories concerns a job that never materialized; a private charity from London asked me to bid on a unique carving job that involved replicating an ornate carved 16th century chair that currently belongs to the Folger Shakespeare Library. Had the work come to fruition I would have presented the finished chair in London to the co-chair of the trust, the actress Haley Mills who I was infatuated with as a child. Alas, they never raised the necessary funds for the job.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. That's easy - I wish they knew how difficult even the "easiest" jobs are, how grueling and back breaking this work can be and how much mental and physical effort it often takes to stay focused to the degree necessary to produce high quality work.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I always loved working with my hands. I always knew I would be an artist of some sort; working with wood seemed more profitable and rewarding than painting, etc. It also allowed me to make a relatively comfortable income when I was younger and when I lived in different parts of the world. It's a versatile proffession.

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. That would have to be a very simple built-in bookcase I made for a friend of a friend recently. It was simple in the extreme but had to be installed in a near impossible environment - an upper floor condo in Washington DC. with a winding staircase. It was a back breaking nightmare getting it in but the end result along with the customer's satisfaction made it worthwhile.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. I have taken occasional workshops over the years if they are relevant to areas of my work and if they are taught by masters who I feel have something to offer. I also read voraciously and have a large library devoted to all aspects of the woodworking trades and arts.

Q. What are the latest developments in your field? Are there any exciting things coming in the next few years or decade that will change your line of business?

A. I am aware of new developements all the time but I generally have little interest in them anymore. Much of what is "new" regarding technique is often focused on saving time - a laudable motive in itself but one that usually results in some sacrifice in quality. I am pretty much devoted to the more tradtional aspects of the trades.

Q. Describe your most recent project, what it involved, how much it cost, and how long it took.

A. This is a bit painful: this is a job still in progress for a very nice client who didn't have a lot of money to spend. I took the job for about 50% less than my usual rate and have been paying for it every day; it seems that these jobs are always the ones where you make huge, costly mistakes and where the breaks just never go your way.

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. That would be impossible. My work varies so much with regard to style, material, size etc that I could not possibly employ a sophisticated estimating protocol. I simply do it the old fashioned way: I estimate materials and waste, laboriously calculate time and potential problems, distance to a job, etc.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. In all seriousness I wouldn't suggest it. If someone was serious though, I would suggest an approach similar to mine - seek out a competent master, seek out reputable sources of instruction (schools, apprenticeship programs), obtain a solid education in managing a small business and train oneself to develope endless patience.

Q. Write your own question and answer it.

A. These days the woodworking proffession has been hard hit by the economy. How do you envision this career winding down, how do you plan to retire?

Answer: 17 years ago I met a beautiful, rich woman. Need I say more?