Hello everyone,
I'm a new member, but certainly not new to woodworking. I live in Morehead City (actually just outside of Morehead, technically in Newport) I've been woodworking since 1972 while I was still in school in New Orleans. I've had many hobbies come and go, but woodworking has always been a constant.
Furniture building has always been what I enjoy the most. For several years I was quite focused on woodturning, and still do some from time to time, but furniture is what really drives me. For the past 20 years or so I have pretty much concentrated my furniture building on the Arts and Crafts style, more specifically the furniture of F.L. Wright and the Greene brothers. I design all of my furniture, and do not build from plans, and don't do reproductions. More recently, I have made an effort to develop a style that is more my own, with some distinctly Oriental influences.
When I started in woodworking, space and economics confined me to the use of hand tools alone. I think in the long run that really was a great benefit. I've built many pieces of furniture with hand tools alone, surfacing and joining with hand planes, and cutting mortises, tenons, dovetails, etc., by hand. The love of hand tools also inspired another related hobby of tool collection. I have a collection of about 100 Stanley hand planes, a number of which I sue on occasion. Over the years I have slowly accumulated a fairly complete shop of machine tools, but still enjoy the hand work.
I retired about 2 years ago, and now do woodworking "semi-professionally." That means I'm in my shop just about every day for most of the day, but make very little money at it!! I do commissioned pieces, and also have work at Handscapes Gallery in Beaufort, NC. This coming February I will have a few pieces at the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville.
I'm looking forward to participating in the forums. I've been lurking here for a few days, and have already learned some very useful things. I hope to learn a lot more, and perhaps I can add something useful to others every now and then.
That's probably enough. I learn more by listening and reading than I do by talking!
Matt Zettl
The Zettl Works
I'm a new member, but certainly not new to woodworking. I live in Morehead City (actually just outside of Morehead, technically in Newport) I've been woodworking since 1972 while I was still in school in New Orleans. I've had many hobbies come and go, but woodworking has always been a constant.
Furniture building has always been what I enjoy the most. For several years I was quite focused on woodturning, and still do some from time to time, but furniture is what really drives me. For the past 20 years or so I have pretty much concentrated my furniture building on the Arts and Crafts style, more specifically the furniture of F.L. Wright and the Greene brothers. I design all of my furniture, and do not build from plans, and don't do reproductions. More recently, I have made an effort to develop a style that is more my own, with some distinctly Oriental influences.
When I started in woodworking, space and economics confined me to the use of hand tools alone. I think in the long run that really was a great benefit. I've built many pieces of furniture with hand tools alone, surfacing and joining with hand planes, and cutting mortises, tenons, dovetails, etc., by hand. The love of hand tools also inspired another related hobby of tool collection. I have a collection of about 100 Stanley hand planes, a number of which I sue on occasion. Over the years I have slowly accumulated a fairly complete shop of machine tools, but still enjoy the hand work.
I retired about 2 years ago, and now do woodworking "semi-professionally." That means I'm in my shop just about every day for most of the day, but make very little money at it!! I do commissioned pieces, and also have work at Handscapes Gallery in Beaufort, NC. This coming February I will have a few pieces at the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville.
I'm looking forward to participating in the forums. I've been lurking here for a few days, and have already learned some very useful things. I hope to learn a lot more, and perhaps I can add something useful to others every now and then.
That's probably enough. I learn more by listening and reading than I do by talking!
Matt Zettl
The Zettl Works
