We are a small shop nestled in the lake country of north central Minnesota.  Dan does the all the hard stuff in "the shop" which is nothing more than a three stall garage while Ellen tells him what he's doing wrong. She was appointed production and supply manager but to date she has done a horrific job. I'm constantly running out of stuff and I haven't seen her do inventory once.  It's almost like she refused the appointment or something?

Now would be a good time to mention I don't take this all that seriously.  I take the work seriously and the relationship with the customer seriously but I will have fun doing it. This started as a hobby that got out of hand and I try to keep it low stress/low irritation.  I have a strange sense of humor, the verbal filter has never worked all that well and the ole brain doesn't operate like a lot of peoples.  I mention all of this so you don't get surprised when this isn't all that professional.   Also- I'm not Hemmingway.  My punctuation is just wrong and my sentence structure is horrific.  I don't put much effort into either of these things so don't get your hopes up,  Moving on.

We try to do original and unique stuff.  It seems to be more and more nature inspired lately and with that I try to let mother nature lead the way.  The designs I make come to me as visions while meditating outside in January.  I find the near hypothermic state brought on by sitting in a snowbank in -30 with a beer buzz opens the mind and allows the creativity to flow.   Yeah, none of that last part is true, There are roughly 8.6 billion folks on this spinning ball and there are very few truly original ideas left- none of them by yours truly, I promise.  I generally see something on that which will doom us all (the internet) and think "I'd do that differently"  then I promptly skip out to the garage like a 3rd grade girl and screw it up no less than three times before stumbling across something resembling success.   I like different and I hope you'll like what I like.  I hope your children will fight over my products when you die.  I don't know why i said that.  That got dark for no reason.  I could really have left that out...jeez.

I took a shop class in 8th grade and I think they made me take an art class in high school.  I don't remember for sure but it seems like they did  I vaguely remember a pretty blonde...    Neither was really my thing (shop or art- the blonde was).   Both were too structured I suppose.  When someone tells you there is only one way to do something- they are always wrong and usually annoying.  I don't consider myself artsy fartsy and I don't consider myself some "craftsman".  I do consider myself a little anal and from what I hear- weird.  Years ago I was a goldsmith (technically a manager who had to do the goldsmithing side) and was good at it if I do say so myself but that requires a lot of attention to detail and the right mood/mindset.  This too requires all of that and a certain eye and a near saintly amount of patience.  Luckily as I've gotten older I've learned to not get as flustered when things don't go as planned.  Just set it aside and get back to it.  Don't get me wrong- I'm still just as angry as the goldsmithing days- primarily German and Irish so at my core I'm drunk and mad at everything.  You'd think stopping drinking would help the ole attitude...nope!!  Angry and sober now!!  Anyway perfection is always the goal but I haven't seen it yet and likely never will.  Except for Ellen- she's perfect-just ask her.  

Joking aside- I do take pride in what I do and genuinely want people to enjoy it.  

Short bio-

Born in southern Minnesota and raised in Montana. I miss the mountains but love the lakes.   Some college though to be honest that was a waste of money! I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up and still don't.  Former Marine though I was a reservist back when reservists didn't do much- that has changed.  God bless the Corps.   A pretty varied work history including managing various businesses since my late 20's.  Married for the last 12 years (I think- don't judge me- she doesn't remember either) to the best girl I could ask for.  I love her to death and she tolerates me- most of the time,  She's a therapist and once told me I was one of the most well adjusted people she knew...so, she's a horrible judge of character which is kind of important as a therapist?   No kids by design.  We have three dogs and three cats and that's plenty for us- none of them well behaved but we love em anyway.  Politically I'm pretty libertarian and have some pretty interesting opinions on a lot of things- most of them not thought out very well.    Go ahead and ask me my opinion on pretty much anything if you want to be deeply confused and wonder what the hell the last hour was all about.  Go ahead...I dare ya.   I'll probably put some of my political thoughts in the blog section at some point.  Just because I amuse myself.  It's for me- not you.  It can be hilarious in here.

Common questions-

How do you do that?           I'll probably do a blog post about this and possibly a video but there are more qualified people out there to offer guidance and a ton of YouTube videos.  Unfortunately, there are an absolute ton of people who have no business "educating" out there too and it can be hard to tell who they are when starting out.  At times I watch some of these videos for fun.  About 2 minutes in my eyes start involuntarily rolling around in my head like I'm having a seizure. Anyway- it's expensive, time consuming, extremely dirty and can be not very good for you if you don't know what you're doing.  That being said- it's pretty damned cool when it all comes together so I'm not trying to discourage anyone-just be realistic about it  More on the process later.

Why is it so expensive?                Well- A.  resin is expensive as is the colorant- roughly $100 a gallon,  B.  They don't exactly give away kiln dried live edge Minnesota walnut. C. I murder three sanders and at least two routers every year among other tools.  D.  The little spinny bases I use on lazy susans- the large ones are $29.00 and the small ones are $23.00,  I use the expensive ones because they spin and they last.  E. The finish I use on things not flood coated is $178.00 per liter and the best I've found.  I go to great lengths to NOT do things the cheap way.   F. I like most people I have this aversion to working for free.  Silly I know.  The extra 10% takes 30% more time and churning out things assembly line style has no real appeal to me.  I CAN do things cheaper but quality would be compromised in my opinion so I choose not to.  I realize this approach can limit how many people might be in the market for my stuff.  I get it, I really do but if I'm not proud of it I don't want to sell it.  

Can it break (wood and resin separate)?     Sure, it can.   If I do my job it won't- but it can,  I have a video I'll post (if I can) in the Blog/News section.  I took a 20"ish charcuterie board- about an 1-1/4" thick and set the ends on 4x4's.  Then (not as gently as I had planned) dropped the front of my 1/2 ton Dodge truck on it.  It bent, it bowed and it looked painful but it didn't break.   The resin soaks into the wood fibers and makes a bond which is just plain durable.  But-still wood can break, resin can break-not likely though.  Segway alert!  That submersible thing that imploded while site seeing the titanic was made out of carbon fiber and.....you guessed it- resin.  It has to be different than the stuff I use but I thought it was interesting.

How to clean/ care/maintain.  Warm mild soapy water (Dawn or something) and a non abrasive cloth (whatever is in the kitchen).  BAM- done!  Don't run it through the dishwasher or submerge in water.  Just wipe it off like the kitchen table!

What's the warranty?              Don't drop it.  Don't throw it at your husband.  And if you do don't lie about it- just tell me, and yes I'm going to want to hear the story about whatever dumb thing he did.  I haven't put a warranty in writing and probably should.  It just hasn't been needed yet.  Long and the short of it is it's covered within reason for the foreseeable future. It does take time though- expect to leave it with me for a while.  And most things can be fixed- contact me before swearing and throwing something away.  It might come to that but let me look at it first ya hot head.

Would you make me a kitchen table?   Nope, sorry-really don't wanna.  There are real victims for a variety of reasons in the world- folks that truly deserve our empathy.  They're not really common unless you believe every cry baby you run into.  I'm not one of these people and never have been.  If I take my delicate little body out to the shop and start flipping 250 pound slabs I'm going start acting like a victim,  I'll pinch my belly fat between a slab and a sawhorse and there will be crocodile tears and whininess.  Ellen will giggle and tell her friends.    I really don't wanna be that guy.  She doesn't want me to be that guy.  Society doesn't need that guy.  I think it best if we avoid kitchen tables.  That was a bit of a rant-sorry about that.  You didn't come her for that.  Notice I didn't delete it...

Last question- and I get this one all the time.        How do you look so good with all that belly and no hair?                    Genetics.  Just genetics.  Got it from Dad except he's got hair because he's a showoff.