About the Artist
The Woodcrafter
The woodcrafter who addresses his
work with tools of old
Charlie at the Wood Joint early 80's
I was born and raised in Portsmouth Virginia. I grew up near the water and have always had a love for sailing, surfing, and fishing - although the fishing came later in life after moving out west.
I took woodshop in the 8th grade but was more interested in Architecture and planned to pursue that career at Virginia Tech where I had been accepted after high school. Well, I never got to college and for various reasons ended up at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard as an electronics apprentice. After finishing my apprenticeship I stayed in the navy yard for a few more years but knew something was missing. At the end of the day, I didn't have anything tangible that most people could see or understand. Sure, I could fix an antenna system, but it was hard to show my friends what I did for a living. I needed something else in my life but I just wasn't sure what.
I quit the navy yard and decided to do a little travelling with my best friend John Dickinson. We got an old Snap-On tool truck and built an interior so that we could travel around the east coast carrying our motorcycles and have a home wherever we traveled. In a way, this was my first introduction to woodworking. While we were on a trip in Florida, we found out how cheap the airfare was to Mexico and ended up in Cozumel. It was there that we met Peter Danko, the person that really introduced me to what woodworking could be.
Peter was a woodworker - and a very good one at that. After leaving Cozumel, we kept in touch and eventually paid a visit to his Georgetown, DC studio to see what he did. Well, right away Peter had us helping him with the chairs he was working on. We helped join and glue up the blocks of wood he used to form the chair and watched as he sculpted the legs and arms. Needless to say this had a great effect on me. I saw how he was able to transform the raw wood blocks into a beautiful and functional work of art.
Peter is now known as a pioneer in sustainable design and his work can be seen at the Smithsonian, Museum of Modern Art, the Boston Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Decorative Arts in Montreal. Much more can be seen at www.peterdanko.com. I value his friendship to this day and, as we remain in touch, he continues to inspire me.
After my time with Peter, I headed out west. I ended up in Seattle and found an opportunity to work the foredeck on a yacht during the '74 racing season. At this time I also took a job for the yacht owner to remodel his home's basement and found, with this being my first true woodworking project, how much I had to learn.
Through my sailing experiences I met up with Mark Cunningham, another aspiring woodworker who knew little more than I did. We joined forces and started doing simple remodeling and deck building. After racing in the '76 Victoria - Maui race, Mark and I ended up in Lahaina where I stayed on for 9 months. While Mark delivered the boat back to Seattle, I and another friend Joel started Bluewater Woodworks in an old cannery building just outside of town. I was just beginning to understand the complexities of the field I had chosen and of running a business. Oh Brother...
Heading back to Seattle in the spring of 1977, Mark and I met Lawrence Kramer, a wood and metal worker, and we began sharing a workspace. The Woodjoint, as we called it, was opened in a storefront on 2nd Ave in Pioneer Square. We got our first commissions from local businesses like the J&M Café where the doors we made are still in use today. Over the ensuing years, our skills picked up as well as our commissions. Our commissions encompassed furniture, kitchens, libraries, entertainment centers, 44 teak doors for a residence in Denver, and various residential and commercial projects. Mark continues today as a skilled woodworker in Friday Harbor, WA.
During this time I became a founding member of the Northwest Guild of Fine Woodworkers and found great satisfaction for 15 years teaching beginning woodworking and hand plane making classes at the Center for Wooden Boats, Woodworkers Store, and Woodcrafters, in Seattle.
It was around this time also that I met two people that were to have an even greater effect on my woodworking skills than anyone else before or after. They were two Japanese carpenters: Dale Brotherton and Yoshikuni Shimoi.
I worked for and studied with these two gentlemen over the last 20 years and without their knowledge and teaching skills I would not be the woodworker I am today nor would I have the knowledge of the care and maintenance of my Japanese tools. To a greater degree it was the insight they gave me as to how I now approach woodworking that I am most grateful for. I can never thank them enough.
Few Thoughts on Woodworking