I specialize in ladder-backed or post-and-rung chairs, that resonate from the deep rural roots I have in my soul. I work with locally cut veneer-quality red oak logs that I split apart or rive to get the straight grain wood I need for strong chair parts. I use the traditional method of wet/dry joinery to hold my chairs together, where I super-dry the rungs before cutting a precise tenon on each end to fit in mortises in the air-dried legs. Then, over time, the legs continue to dry and shrink onto the super-dried tenons, ensuring a long life for the chair. My chairs all have steam-bent back legs and slats for comfort. I weave the seat bottom with hickory bark or similar material or carve a solid hardwood seat. Every piece I create has a spoke-shaven or hand-tooled finish and has been lovingly rubbed by hand with three or four coats of oil – a recipe I mix myself. This is the way chairs were made when people knew how to make chairs, not just order them from a fancy catalog.

I also took up spoon carving, where I use hand-selected crooks or bends of certain trees, to carve spoons and ladles which only grow more beautiful with use and age.

I make every piece with my own two hands, leaving behind my unique fingerprint, and a little piece of my heart.