When the shop was built and I moved in, I began planning the house. By that time I had learned enough about building energy efficient houses that I decided I should design and build a net zero energy house. My idea, design wise, was that I wanted a house that from the outside would look like it could have been sitting there for 150 years, but on the inside, it would include all the latest building technology. I designed and built the house myself, from framing to roofing, from plumbing to electrical, and flooring to trim and cabinetry.

I am neither equipped nor have an interest in doing production work, or pieces best done by a CNC machine. I hope that I will find that there is a market for custom pieces that have at least an element of handwork.

It was about 20 years ago when I bought 4 acres of land on a hillside in Cambridge, VT. The first couple of years I worked on clearing the land, brought in power, and had a well drilled. It was a long standing life ambition to build my own house and I wanted to have a woodshop as well. I decided to build the woodshop first, lest I decide, once the house was done, that I had enough of building and give up on the idea of building a woodshop So I built the woodshop, and I built it so that I could also live in it, while I built the house.

I was fortunate enough to have some mature cherry trees on my property. Before I broke ground on the house I cut down enough cherry to provide myself with the wood I would need to install cherry stairs and floors upstairs plus some extra for future projects. I hired a guy with a portable bandsaw mill to come up to my place and saw the logs into boards. They air-dried for about six years before I was ready to mill and install them in the house.

All the while, I was making furniture in the woodshop. Most of the pieces you will find in the gallery are pieces that I built over the years and were donated to Dismas House for inclusion in their annual fundraising auction.

I have always thought that all the projects I have worked on these past forty-odd years have been a preparation of sorts for the day I retire. As that time has arrived, I am ready to devote myself full-time to this other work that I am passionate about.