My true woodworking journey began when I lived in Northwestern Alaska, above the Arctic Circle. My experiences as a carpenter provided a first step into learning to build small boats, dog sleds, crude furniture, and other necessities of life in the Arctic. At some point I was loaned a book titled A Cabinetmaker’s Notebook, by James Krenov, and my life was inexorably changed.

Smitten by the notion of learning to design and build furniture in the way that Krenov described, I applied to the new school in California where Krenov had started teaching a couple of years earlier. I was fortunate to be accepted into the program, moved to California, and spent the next two academic years completely immersed in the school before returning to Alaska.

With my family, I left Alaska about six years after returning there and ended up settling in the unlikely destination of Scottsdale, Arizona — the polar opposite of our Alaskan existence in every way possible. I worked in a couple of established cabinet shops for about 18 months before setting up my own shop and business, which has carried on to this day, 32 years later.

I began teaching about 20 years ago, when I was renting commercial space in Scottsdale, conducting classes 2-3 days up to one week in length focused on the Krenovian principles of design and construction I had learned at the feet of the master. My workshop is now in my home, in a necessarily downsized space not adequate for more than 1-on-1 instruction. I teach there, on occasion, or in a student’s personal workspace. For the last 10 years, I have also been a principal instructor at the Southwest School of Woodworking (www.sw-sw.org) in Phoenix.