Cyber Interviews #2: Todd Clippinger

Great interview David. and thanks Todd. A very nice insight into your life. Thanks for inviting us in.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Excellent interview David and Todd. I like your work philosophy and integrity Todd. I will never reach the level that you have attained, but I will certainly step up my expectations of what my work should be. Thanks again for the wonderful and interesting interview and David, I’ll be looking for the next installment of your Cyber Interviews – good stuff.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Karson & Bill -

Thank you. I know its a long download and a long video. I had so much fun talking with Todd that I felt compelled to share!

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

Great interview David and Todd. Worth every minute.

-- Maplewood, MN

excellent interview.
4 years, huh…

well done you two.. now David: who’s next?

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Thank you David and Todd. In another thread it was mentioned that seeing a face helped to make a connection to another person. This interview goes even further by letting us hear Todd’s own words and virtually share the conversation. Very well done.

-- If at first you don't succeed, try again. Then quit. No use being a darn fool about it.

Thanks for the interview – it was eye opening and extreemly interesting. Keep up the good work!

-- Tony - All things are possible, just some things are more difficult than others! - SKYPE: Heron2005 (http://www.poydatjatuolit.fi)

Brilliant! This was quite engaging and informative.

Four years—that bolsters me to be the craftsman I aspire to be. I like the little glimpse at a conversation about techniques that you gave us there at the end, David. Keep up the good work.

-- Jeff, St. Paul, MN

Excellent video. Mr Todd, you smile too much aside from that someone should call Hollywood. I see a multi-mill series! Good luck!

David…....that was excellent, alot of fun to watch and hear. Really good repoirte between you and Todd. I liked Todd’s comment on raising ones level of design purely on hardware availability and selection. Really enjoyed the interview.
Neil

Hey Todd, I sure feel like I know a lot about you now. I’ve certainly enjoyed all of your work and posts and now having a face/voice sure puts the whole package together. That was worth the watch. I expect great things from you, Todd! Cheers!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

DOH!

Apologies to Scott Shangraw for butchering his name.

I actually met Mark DeCou at the Western Design Conference, not Dennis Mitchell. Sorry guys, I hope I did not offend either one.

Thanks Dave for your hard work and allowing me to share through video. You have been very helpful with the technology aspect and I plan to get video out in the future.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Thank you both so much for doing this. It is an inspiration!

Thank you again!!

-- Hope Never fails

Thank you everyone for the kind words. Todd does have a continuous smile from ear-to-ear and his personality is warm and welcoming just like the big sky state he calls home. It was very cool to put a face and voice to the work, writings and photos. He was pretty much as I imagined! I had to do some editing as the time flew by and I amassed quite a bit of video. More than I could really post because of its size. At the end of my time with Todd, my son was in the shop and Todd started talking with Matthew. I was really impressed with how warm and welcoming Todd was when Matt’s face popped in the video monitor. When Matt walked away he said “Dad that guy rocks!” and I thought to myself, you are absolutely right!

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

That was great David. I hope you can do more interviews like this.

-- Mike - "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." (Scott Adams)

I’m in agreement as well—Todd Rocks as does David!

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Thanks for all the kind words guys. I hope that we will be seeing many others. LJ is just so full of talent and it comes from several directions. It would be great to see others. Dave and I talked a bit about this.

Dave is real easy to talk to so he makes it easy. Really I considered it sharing with friends – THAT’S YOU GUYS!

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

I’d be proud to call you a friend Todd.

-- Maplewood, MN

Hey my friend! Thanks!

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Todd -

You are more than welcome . . . I think I got the better end of the stick as it was a real pleasure to spend the afternoon chatting with you!

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

brillant !! a fireside chat with todd clippinger ! exellent job from both parties , very impressive . todd i certainly agree on hafele products . enkaboll is another company if you dont already know about them , is somebody on your level might want to know about they have arcitechual products very nice stuff great job guys ! i can see this thing catching on !

-- if you aint the lead dog the scenery never changes

Thanks for the interview Dave.

Todd is very articluate about his “life”..... and it’s nice to see that big grin he’s wearing :)

Cheers, Don.

-- Don Kondra - Furniture Designer/Maker

Don -

You are welcome! Todd is very articulate and precise. Good thing he has a disarming smile!

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

Thanks Todd and David this was great to watch.Thanks for mentioning me Todd,don’t worry about “butchering”the name I’ve been called worse.Thanks again guys really enjoyed it!!

-- Scott NM,http://www.shangrilawoodworks.com

That was fun to watch – keep it up!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Wow, you guys are so proactive! Thanks for this. Adding Cyber Interviews to Stickies ;)

-- Martin, http://lumberjocks.com

Thanks Martin!

Now we have to think of the next cyber interview subject . . .

Any suggestions?

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

David and Todd;

Great interview! I guess I’ve had my head in the sand (or sawdust), as I wasn’t aware of Todd or his work. I simply have got to start paying attention! I’m going to visit Todd’s site and posts to see what I’ve been missing.

One thing I noticed in the interview, which either you have or you don’t, in addition to the talent level you spoke of, is the disarming personality and smile Todd possesses. It shouts honesty. This will play a huge role in a persons success regarding the faith a client will place in you. No one will deal with someone they don’t trust.

Even with all the talent in the world, without that it is nearly impossible to climb to the higher levels of work which we all aspire to do. We’re just not presented with the opportunity.

Another very important aspect of this is consistency. Someone who does great work one day, yet less than perfect the next, is destined to fail. A client has to KNOW it will be right. If there’s even a hint of doubt, you’re done before you start.

I really didn’t have time to watch this, or comment on this, yet here I sit, doing just that. All the while wanting it to end, so I could get back to work, yet not moving. I guess that makes it a successful interview, when someone can’t tear themselves away.

Todd’s philosophies with his client relationships are quite similar to the ones I’ve been using and trying to instill in my employees. One comment Todd made was if the client sees a small problem or mistake, or even something less than perfect, they start dissecting all of your work. That’s a speech I have made too many times to count. It is a total embarrassment to me if a client picks up on something that I missed. Fortunately that rarely happens, as I’m pretty anal myself. (not the same word as some of those employees have used).

Well I’m going to pull myself together and get to work.

Thank you both for the interview.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Lee,

I am glad you enjoyed it.

I know that the professionals on LJ share similar experiences and it is easy to relate to one another.

I am working on getting things together to update my website. You guys will have to bear with me as I climb the learning curve a little more.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Really great interview David. And Todd, I’m glad he picked your brain, I actually learned a lot just from hearing you chat with David. Do it again any time.

-- Dust collectors suck.

Todd – you hit it on the nail when you said about computers ”...it’l suck the life out of you.”

Glad I had the life sucked out of me this morning, enjoyed the interview this morning. And as you guys discussed, I have been know to save a picture of the site so I could view it in a photo program. zoom in and look at how tools are arranged on the shop floor or on a wall. Helps organize my own shop. As Todd said, self taught must be doing it wrong, I know everyone out there has to have the shop set-up better than I do.

David I hope you keep up the interviews, those of us that do this as a hobby can really learn from these.

Thanks,

-- Joel Tille

I look forward to the newsletter every month and the first link in it is to this interview. Amazing. This was really great. I didn’t really have time to watch it as I was having breakfast, but I did and I am so glad I did. Thank you both for taking the time to share with all of us. It is a great addition to this already awesome site. Thanks again…..

Robin

-- robbi

Great interview todd , and thanks for previous help ! , I’ve been crazy busy w work … I love you thought of this book as your “favorite tool” hmm I was born in portland wen’t to cleaveland h.s. Great wood in oregon I sure miss it ! ... Take care Brother…

-- PJM.`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º> why's there a light in fridge and not the freezer? , aka, the wood hunter.aka tigermaple5

I’m glad Patrick woke up this interview.

I watched it when you first posted it, but for some reason, or another I must have been sidetracked, & didn’t make a comment.

Thanks David, & Todd for the bang up performance.

It was great to hear, & see Todd’s outlook on woodworking.

I’ll be watching for more.

-- Dick Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1