Donowoodworks

I have been screwing up wood projects for around 10 years now, starting with a hammer, nails, and a hacksaw (it was slow going cutting wood with a hacksaw!). I am mostly self-taught with the benefit of the wonderful people who put their craft into book form for posterity and the explosion of the internet (and immediate access to people like you!) around the time I got into highschool.

I slowly built up a shop in my parent's garage (They were incredibly generous to let me displace one, then two cars, and I only got yelled at occasionally for the copious amounts of sawdust I tracked through our home.) First family, and then friends began to ask me to make projects for them, (I'm sure you know the feeling) and eventually I began to get commission requests from people I did not know who had seen projects of mine.

I decided that I really needed to learn some things first-hand from people who are great at the craft, and after a brief search, discovered that William Ng had a shop and school relatively close by where I live. I took a class on inlay with him and I have been bugging the fine gentlemen who frequent the shop ever since! It has been a wonderful experience thus far, and the guys at the shop have become close friends and mentors for the process of making fine-quality sawdust. I have learned everything from the proper way to take out the trash and eat a doughnut, to how to hold your mouth just right when you are contemplating a tough joint; any day now I'm sure we will actually get to woodworking. ;)

I have also learned that woodworkers are, on the whole, one of the happiest groups of people I have encountered thus far on my otherwise brief journey through life. Something about creating beautiful things with other people in mind...

Happy woodworking!

-- -Mark Donovan, Donovanwoodworks@gmail.com