There are many reasons why I build furniture, but I guess they begin with my mother’s father. When I was in the second grade, he made me a desk out of wood from old passenger rail cars. He took wood and cushions from the cars as they were being scrapped. When I was in the sixth grade he made some extensions for the legs. I still have that desk. It is beaten up from all the moves I have made—along with the normal wear and tear a kid puts on furniture—but I still cherish it.

He also would take furniture out of abandoned ranch houses and refinish them. He then gave them to his kids. To this day, many of these pieces are prized by the families that have them.

The next reason is my father. He never made furniture, but he made sure that I knew how to use the basic tools. He knew someone who didn’t know a wrench from a screwdriver and it drove him nuts. So he made sure my brother and I knew what various tools were and how to use them to do basic chores around the house and on the cars we had. This made a big impression on me. I guess in his mind a person should be able to work with his hands if he had to or wants to.

These seeds were planted and left to mull around in my head while I went to college and joined the Air Force. Once I got out of the Air Force, I bought a small house from my father and finally had a place where I could start buying, using, and storing tools of my own. By chance I found some plans for a bed I liked while I was considering buying a new bed for myself. I looked over the plans and decided that I could make the bed if I had the tools. So I went and bought the tools and wood and made the bed. I really enjoyed the experience.

Since then, I have built items for friends and relatives. Sometimes I would build something simply because there was a technique needed to build the item that I did not know how to do and I wanted to learn. So I would find a friend or relative that needed or wanted something like it and make it for them. Most of the time I would build something for a friend or relative because they were having a baby, wedding, some sort of graduation, or I wanted to give it to them as a Christmas present.

The giving of presents is one of the highlights of being able to do woodworking. The light in the receiver’s eyes just fills me with a warmth that I cannot explain. I hope that I am building and giving something that gives the person(s) the type of joy I still get from my Grandfather’s desk. I also get enjoyment out of the process of making the piece. It is affirmation of something spiritual to me, as I start with wood in a very rough state, then slowly work the beauty of the wood out. I believe that this beauty can only come from some sort of God. Sometimes it takes my breath away.

I remember making a blanket chest for a very dear friend Jean. She was getting married and I was not going to be able to attend the wedding, as my mother was dying and I wanted to be close to her. I was making the chest out of wood I had in the shop, but I needed one more piece of cherry for the top. I went to a local hardwood store and was going through a great selection of cherry. I found a piece near the top of the pile that would work, but something told me to keep looking. It felt like Jean’s father, who had passed away a year or two before, or my grandfather was looking over my shoulder. It was a very strange yet comforting feeling. And there middle of the pile I found a very beautiful piece of cherry. It was the type of wood that a friend of mine would laugh about. He says a wood guy would want to frame it and hang it on the wall like a painting. I felt this way about this board. I knew it would be great in the chest, yet it was beautiful in its own right. It almost hurt to cut it up.

I hope the pieces I make will be passed down through years, because they are well built and because they have memories tied to them. These memories will come from the use of the item and the people who use them.

The final reason is that I look around in the furniture stores of the Denver metro area and I do not see the quality of furniture I would want to buy. I find the style, but the manufacturer cuts all the boards to 1 to 3 inch wide boards, then glues them into the size needed for a table top, drawer front, side panel, etc. I think this kills the beauty of the grain. This is the same beauty that I found in the board I talked about for Jean’s blanket chest. I want to build furniture that preserves this beauty. The drawback is that it is very labor intensive, but then again, you know that I think about how and take the time needed to make the piece as nice as possible.

– Emmett