I make guitars, bowls, furniture, and hand carved items. Woodworking can be both functional and a work of art, which is a huge appeal for me. I am happy to consult with clients to create unique designs and functional art from local and sustainable timbers.
Guitars
I started making guitars in 1998. It quickly became a passion, and I taught an electric guitar-making course for two years at the UC Davis Craft Center. I am currently developing my own line of guitars and ukuleles which I will be building from scratch in my one-man shop. These will be offered for sale as I build, but if you are interested in an instrument, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Bowls, Platters, and Cups
Each bowl I create is from a tree that either fell or was being taken down for safety reasons. After planning the cuts based on grain structure, I chainsaw the tree into manageable bowl blanks, avoiding defects and checks, and seal them with wax to avoid cracks. After band-sawing the blank into a circular shape and while the wood is still wet, I turn each blank into a thick, roughed-out bowl, and then seal it with wax again. If the piece is large enough, I core a few bowls out of a large blank. Each bowl is labeled and logged, and I let the roughed-out bowl dry for at least 6 months. When the wood is dry, I mount it back on the lathe for a final (thin) turning. After adding details and sanding, I finish each bowl with natural, food-safe linseed or tung oil and beeswax. Each bowl, no matter what size, takes many hours to create. It is a long and painstaking process, but worth every hour, and is super fun! The result is what I consider functional art.
Furniture
I designed this bed based on some work I admire greatly from the Greene and Greene brothers (early 20th century). I made this bed out of mahogany, maple, walnut, redwood, ebony and pearl. I designed and created the inlay trees and used "found" pieces of an old engraved Asian fan for the details.
Kitchen
I created cabinets, drawers, and countertops for my kitchen. I used curly redwood and Douglas Fir for most of the cabinets and drawers, and maple and walnut for the countertops.
