My Woodworking Career
Typography on Wood
At Kutztown University, a small school in Pennsylvania, I studied Typography. This is where I first experimented with letterforms on wood. Along side earning a degree in Graphic Design, I began burning original designs into wooden cigar boxes.
Custom Boxes
Shortly after I graduated, freelancing allowed me venture to western North Carolina. I joined a best friend moving to Asheville and continued engraving cigar boxes for friends, and friends of friends. Each cigar box had the same process - sanding, sketching, carving, burning and finishing - it was a rhythm I fell into. It was not long before I desired to build the wooden boxes myself.
2014
I dove head first into my new found passion of woodworking. At a local community workshop I learned the fundamentals and was introduced to a hand plane, table saw, and everything in between. I had no power tools at home, so I’d mill my stock at the Rec. center, and head home to cut my dovetails. My workshop at that time had one extension cord running to it from the house, mostly for a lamp I used above my workbench. The wood enthusiasts I met showed me the bottomless joy of creating with my own hands, and I made great friends. I was lucky to have Lee, Bob, Bill, and Roger as some of my first friends in Asheville.
Chair Making
For three years I had a job Brian Boggs workshop. I built ladder-back chairs along with other, more contemporary designs of his. Boggs would use wonderfully old style tools, but would not hesitate to incorporate modern woodworking equipment into the process. I learned how to sharpen the most incredible hand tools and used them effectively. I befriended massive, pre-war machines, and had them complete complex tasks with extreme accuracy.
During this time building chairs I continued a side hustle. At that time Windthrow revolved our me making ketubot (Jewish marriage certificates). I would work with clients who were about to be married, using traditional calligraphy techniques I’d write their vows. Then draw or paint an elaborate boarder around the Hebrew and english text.
In 2018, I put all my effort into Windthrow and started to create wooden Judaica along side the ketubah designs.
Now, I have a small workshop in Black Mountain where I manage and make our wooden pieces. Becca, my wife, handles all of our ketubah orders, our website, wholesale deals, general admin and so much more. We make quite a good team.
