Uncommon Craftsmen

We're about to wrap a special project in the shop. It has all the elements of a good challenge for us. The client had Maple filing cabinets she built a long time ago that her kids helped finish, and wanted to salvage the wood from them in a new buildout of three modular units to coordinate with a piece she already has in her living room. We're pretty proud of this stain match, and loved the reference photos (shared with permission) of her kiddos helping out a few decades ago.

We’re woodworkers at the core, of course, but sometimes when we’re helping a client, the best solution just isn’t wood. Our client was looking to replace deteriorating exterior stairs up to their back door from their yard. After many years of use, they were growing moss and breaking down due in part to no solution for water and weather. Though the white oak they were built from is generally good for exterior, we’re hesitant to recommend it for a stair tread unless it includes some sort of regularly-applied weatherizing coat. To help reduce maintenance on the client’s part and to ensure her investment would be lasting, we opted for galvanized steel supplied by McNICHOLS CO. The overall result is a project we wouldn’t ordinarily take on, but resulted in a happy customer with a fixed headache - and that’s what we care about most.👍

Thanks for following us, everyone. We love being able to share what's going on in the shop, even if we can only post once in a while.

Posting to social media is a whole job in itself sometimes. And if you already have a job, it can be hard to find the time to tell everyone what you're up to on social media while you're doing it.

Our advice? Don't let the pressure of "not posting enough" turn into "not posting at all."

Take a page from Uncommon Craftsmen's book. These extremely talented* woodworkers are busy building custom pieces for their clients, so they only post once weekly or biweekly and focus on quality over quantity. Their posts are:

👀 Eye-catching: They understand the effect of a great before/after series.

ℹ️ Informative: How DO they do that?!

🎨 Varied: Each post in a peek into a new kind of project, displaying their vast capabilities.

Even if you don't make cool furniture or hidden doorways, check out how they're making it work!

*Ok, so we might be a little biased (Emily helped brand and launch the company and Jackie is married to the founder 🫣😆)

[ID: A compilation of process photos leading up to the creation of a beautiful craftsman style light fixture. It features up close pictures of impressive joinery with detailed, delicate cuts of wood. The largest photo features a Dave, a white man with dark hair pulled back, a full beard, glasses, and a colorful bandana around his neck. He stands next to the finished light in his workshop.]

This client came to us with old garage doors that needed to be replaced. The old ones were deteriorating, uninsulated, and were challenging to lift up from the bottom. So we designed, built, and installed a set that were more modern, insulated, and easier to open.

Wood type: Pine and Poplar
Joinery: Mortise and Tenon
Finish: Benjamin Moore Peale Green

Shaker Style Side Table
Wood: Cherry and Maple
Joinery: drawer-dovetail, rabbet, groove and dado; table legs and apron- mortise and tenon; Top- edge glued
Finish: Osmo poly-x oil 3054 Clear
Drawer pull from House of Antique Hardware