Working with Wood

Growing up, I was lucky enough to have access to a basement shop loaded with power tools that made learning carpentry possible. I attribute a lot of my current interest and capabilities in making back to a time before 3D printers and laser cutters and even YouTube tutorials; it was an interest that was originally born out of some bruised thumbs, magazine projects and oak.

My first true carpentry project was building an aquarium stand for my freshwater tank, which also is the project I designed my very first CAD model in SketchUp for. Since then, I've refinished old furniture, over-engineered more aquarium stands and reptile enclosures (my friends called my home the Armstrong Zoo), built my fair share of garden beds and am no longer allowed to make cutting boards as gifts. Each of these projects tailored a different skill set, and the many "oopsies" along the way were some of the best teachers of critical thinking I've ever had.

Aquarium Stand

My first real woodworking project! This was built to hold a 39 gallon aquarium, and store all the filtration and plant fertilization equipment under the tank.

Cutting Board

A fairly simple cutting board, which was made as a gift to replace a plastic cutting board.

Reptile Enclosure

Custom built reptile enclosure to house my family’s Argus monitor, Popeye.

I love working with my printers and coding, but carpentry will always be one of my favorite hobbies. There is nothing quite like the feel of a carefully sanded and finished exotic wood or the smell after cutting red oak. I appreciate how much more efficient a CNC machine or laser cutter makes the process of creating, but there's something so gratifying about making a piece entirely with your own hands out of a chunk of tree, and knowing it's one of a kind.