Dream Forest Studios

I begin this journal by saying that now, I am a proud father. My wife and I brought our daughter home from the hospital a few days ago.  It is a strange fate we should suffer so much fear and doubt… over so small a thing. Such a little thing. A little thing that opens its eyes upon me as her gateway to the world.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to take training to become an EMT. One of the courses I took was about pediatric emergencies. It taught me that one of the most beautiful sounds that an medical practioner can hear is a screaming baby. It’s got the ABC’s. That means it’s got an Airway, it’s Breathing, and the heart is Circulating blood.

My business, and my passion are not to bring the world hundreds of thousands of pieces of furniture from a mass produced line, inflexible and unchanging, nonthinking and standardized. China and Ikea have done that for us already. Millions and millions of copies, all alike. Non-passionate and desensitized to the beauty of the world.

My business is to work with myself and my clients through a world who needs more people who see more than what a machine can cut. It is to work through a world who is desensitized to human foibles, not by adding a firehose to a flood. It is to put ideas to work, pencil to paper, paper to wood, and make my favorite piece to be last one I was working on, and my best piece my next piece. Through each dovetail I chisel, each tenon I rout, I create craft. One joint at a time.

My creative passion has created my business - Dream Forest Studios. Dream Forest Studios prides itself on being a custom wood studio which is driven by a balance of my creative passion for fine craftsmanship and client satisfaction. My belief and hope is that fine furniture pieces, properly cared for, last generations and become heirlooms to be treasured, touched and admired .

One of the main reasons I enjoy this work so much is because of it’s timeless beauty, and the memories created around our simple existence. We as human beings interact on multiple levels with both the inanimate and the animate. We leave our imprint on those objects, and people, and in-turn those objects and people leave imprints on us.  I enjoy the simple tranquility of nature. It is this connection I take and put into my furniture and craftsmanship. The harmony and connection I get as I feel a piece of wood being worked through my tools is something of unspoken beauty. Watching shavings peel away from a piece of rough wood into something that may inspire a connection to this world that is unique to the observer. 

I have many memories of my grandfather and this really old rocking chair that he had when I was growing up as a kid. When I was very small, and I came for a visit, I remember sitting in that chair and being rocked to sleep in it.

A few years ago, my wife’s grandmother passed away, and we were fortunate to get her old bedroom furniture. My wife and I are proudly expecting our first born this July. This past weekend, my lovely wife and myself had dinner with my mother-in-law, and she told us how happy she was that we have the furniture in the family. She remembers as a little girl how her mother meticulously cleaned and maintained that furniture and how she slept in the bed, both of her brothers slept in the bed and used the dresser and bureau.

On a humorous note, my wife told me of an old yellow chair that she hated so much as a kid, that she bit just to let her parents know how much she hated yellow.

My creative passion has created my business - Dream Forest Studios. Dream Forest Studios prides itself on being a custom wood studio which is driven by a balance of my creative passion for fine craftsmanship and client satisfaction. Fine furniture pieces, properly cared for, last generations.

My current project is to build an entertainment unit which matches an existing wall unit.  The unit itself was made from a pickled red oak. Pickling works very well on large open pored woods like oak, ash and chestnut.

However, if I ever caught someone pickling the VERY rare and treasured chestnut, they would find themselves with a rather sore hand after I smacked it with my dead-blow mallet.

Typically, a pigment is dispersed in a solvent, and the pigment lodges itself into the pores of the wood. Oak, I believe is an underrated wood. It’s warm natural tones, and grain structure can be accentuated using multiple techniques. Depending on how it has been milled, and finished, can make some outstanding furniture pieces.

The trouble with the unit I was color matching was that due to its age, and being in direct sunlight, the existing color had faded.  All newly milled red oak has a very pleasing reddish brown tinge to it that is naturally darker than the wall unit already in place.

Another challenging point is that my shop lighting is primarily fluorescent. This adds an entirely new dimension to the details. Fluorescent lighting adds a greenish / blue tint to all of the colors mixed and applied. So, I’ve found that a color that looked absolutely wonderful in the shop often times, stared back mockingly at me in my client’s sun-light living room.

 After multiple pieces were cut for sampling, and chemically treated, and two not-so-productive color matching appointments had come and gone, the third time was the charm.

As a woodworker, I think I need to begin by starting to talk about something that is very near and dear to my heart. Wood. I’ve spent many hours studying wood as a material. It has many uses throughout history.

 I thoroughly enjoy using my hands and take great pride in creating something that will last generations. I also enjoy meeting other people who take similar pride in what they do. But to what end? What steps are being taken to conserve the vast acreage of trees that provide shelter and food to other forms of life, and will allow future generations of craftsmen to take pride in their work? Many exotic woods that do not grow quickly, or won’t grow at all again due to over forestation, are being torn down because of their unique grain patterns. I try very hard to incorporate local hardwoods in all of my pieces, most of these trees can be obtained from local portable saw mills.

I would highly recommend all of you to read Fine Woodworking magazine’s October 2007 edition. A great article, written by Mario Rodriguez, discusses obtaining very unusual trees at VERY reasonable prices. These trees are often times already cut down in advance for being in troublesome spots. Also, if you have a tree that you need taken down, be sure to look in your local yellow pages for a portable saw mill in your area. It will save you money to sell your lumber to a saw mill rather than pay a landscaper to take the wood away. Plus, you will be helping your local business out and create a stronger local economy in the process. Just because the tree is in your way today doesn’t mean it can’t make a beautiful piece tomorrow, and give someone the satisfaction of enjoying an age old craft.

It is the evening of October 6, 2007. This blog first and foremost should thank the guys whom I had the pleasure of working with for this project. Of course, some additional thanks go to my wonderful wife Kim. I could never have been strong enough to be able to get into projects like this without her support. She came with me today to the NJ Forestry Festival.

Non-stop action from 10 am this morning until about 3:30 pm today. We had a great day of country living in the middle of the pine barrens. Hammer and nails were flying. My last customer of the day really did bring some peace to my soul. The little girl and I were sitting on a scale map of the Forestry Service nailing a bird house together. She mentioned to me that her grandfather had been looking for a bird house for a long time, and she was happy that she was going to get this one for him. I sat in the pine barrens of New Jersey, and that comment really took me back. I don’t know her name, or where she was from. She made me feel like I was her age again. My grandfather and I had a special bond. Honestly, not a single day goes by that I don’t think about him. I miss his guidance, and spending my time with him. His last home was in the same section of New Jersey that the Forestry day was. Driving those roads brings some warmth and comfort reminding me of a simpler time of my life. So, to that little girl who was interested in hand crafting a bird house that her grandfather would enjoy - best wishes to you. My hope is that you can forge a bond with your grandfather like I had with mine. Mine died about 14 years ago, on a warm sunny day like today. Although I cried, I am so proud to miss a guy so rare.

This blog will more than likely be pretty quick. My buddies and I are near the end of what seemed to be the journey of 1000 miles and what seemed to be years of my life - even if it was just a few short weeks.

I have to give some credit to the wonderful set of guys I worked with on this project. All three of them were very dedicated to this cause. My one friend whom I met through the Central Jersey Woodworkers Association had designed a set of plans for bird house and feeder kits that are for kids to put together with hammer and nails. We milled over 300 kits in the past couple of weeks.  I’ve spent hours of quality time in front of a drill press. I think I’ve drilled over 2000 holes. But, who’s counting.

 I sincerely hope that everyone and anyone who reads my blogging will stop by and say hello at the Forestry Festival which is happening this Saturday, October 6. The link to the festival is on the website. We usually have a sell-out crowd, and are completely swamped all day. I’d advise anyone who is interested in walking away with a really nice bird house or bird feeder - COME EARLY. The NJ Forestry Service cut down some really pretty trees this year for our use. Proceeds go towards the Central Jersey Woodworkers Association. We will use this money to buy more books and tools for our “Club Crib”.

My club has a very impressive library of books which is where I have learned quite a bit. We also have a set of tools which can be rented for 1 month intervals.

Hello all,

This is to let everyone know that I will be taking part in my first Blog Action Day, which takes place on October 15, 2007. This year’s topic is the environment. As a woodworker, this is something that is very important to me. I believe very firmly in conservation of our natural resources. Some species of wood have been decimated by over-forestation and will never be enjoyed again by future generations of wood workers. I always do my best to use domestic hardwood that has been cut down by local landscapers. Often these trees offer their own unique grain patterns that give my pieces one-of-a-kind personalities.

Hello all,

This evening, I wanted to talk about one of the very first projects that helped me really begin my interest in woodworking. It helped me begin to think there was a future in the hobby as a potential business to make money. A friend of mine from my local wood club,  Central Jersey Woodworkers Association, and I took a class together and began talking. He said he built bird house and bird feeder kits with pre-drilled nail holes so that kids can learn to use tools like hammers and put them together. He said upon occasion, he would make them for family and friends. I told him I’d be interested in learning how he did them. He made some connections and was able to get us into a local community festival. We made 25 bird houses and 25 bird feeders. Our first 2 hours, we did absolutely nothing. This was probably the most BORING 2 hours of my life. We stood there by ourselves, and I thought the next 6 hours are going to be LONG. Well, then we had our first customer and time just FLEW by. We had lines of people putting together bird houses and feeders, wow, just amazing.

 Our second show was done by the NJ Forestry Service. They were gracious enough to offer some recently cut down and milled pine trees for us to make into these kits. This was my first introduction into green wood. My safety glasses were literally soaked with pine sap after milling the wood into kits. This time, we made 75 bird houses and 75 bird feeders.

 This is going to be my third show I am doing with my friend and I am thoroughly looking forward to building the houses and feeders. My wife and I are avid nature lovers. As much as I know that technology helps our day to day lives, I often find that it numbs our senses, and desensitizes us to the living. I enjoy watching the kids (and sometimes adults) learn how to use hammers and nails. I think there are far too many school systems that are doing away with shop programs (metal shop, wood shop, etc.) in favor of stuff like athletic programs. Unfortunately, we can’t all be starting pitchers and quarterbacks. But then again, when you’re making shavings and sawdust, and you walk inside the house covered in some un-Godly mix of wood waste and sweat, and you’re wife says “UGH! What the hell have you been doing?” - wouldn’t trade that for the world. Hee hee. I’m not sure how many kits are going to be milled tomorrow, but I’m planning to be covered in the wood waste for that ride home.

This is the continuing saga of the Woodworking Chemist. Last week, our hero was on a project that could have spelled certain doom. At the last minute, the caped client wanted joinery that would have been extraordinarily easy with power tools after all of the power tool work was done. Unfortunately, this studio has no boy wonder to dig him out of this mischief. Glue ups done, on a 16 foot piece of lumber. This time, our hero relied on his tool belt, and pulled out his trusty chisel.

After this was completed, I went into formulating the color match on a larger scale.  The original match was done weeks earlier before the client went away to Paris. It was now up to me to make a batch of dye that would work. This portion of the project, for some strange reason is always what I enjoy the best. I guess since I mix chemicals for a living? Oh well, I put on the first coat of dye and I was really amazed at how well the material worked. Since I was working with a medium like oak, I wanted to make sure the pores were leveled so that my client would not look at his shelf and see a cheap rounded over look on the wood. I leveled the wood with 3 coats of shellac. Each coat was meticulously rubbed out with fine sandpaper. Then, after that was completed, I began the polyurethane. Five coats of hand rubbed beauty later, 5 coats of tinted wax was applied and rubbed out.

The whole reason I have begun this venture of mine is that I really enjoy the feeling I get when someone admires a piece of work, whether it be furniture, a bowl, pen, or custom woodwork, and knowing that from start to finish a portion of myself goes into crafting each piece. Interacting with my clients, using my hands in balance with my mind and other senses, as well as seeing their satisfaction and appreciation for something that, if properly cared for, will last generations is a wonderful gift.

Well, folks - thanks so much for this opportunity for me to express myself.  I am feeling very good about myself. I just got finished working on my first big commission for some clients of mine. A lot of things went through my head as I was handed this opportunity.

The project came through an off the wall way. I worked with a gentlemen, whom I had the pleasure of sharing a cubicle with for 2 years as a professional chemist. His father, who found out I worked with wood as a hobby, wanted me to build him a mounting board for a wooden boat that he was receiving from a friend. After a conversation, and a handshake, I was able to find out that the boat was a scaled down replica of an 19th Century wooden boat called the “Rattlesnake.”  The “Rattlesnake” was a boat that was made from a very light, and tight grained wood, and was then to be placed on top of a walnut grand piano.

My project defined, I started to work. I was able to make the main portion of the board out of maple, and then trimmed the edges of the board out of walnut, so that both portions of the big picture could be represented in harmony with each other. The piece was oiled, polished to a satin gloss, waxed and polished out and delivered to my friend’s father who’s eyes were lit up with delight.  At this point, I knew the path of my career was changed forever. He said “WHOA, this is beautiful, what exactly are you doing in this place? My friend, you have really missed your calling in life.” After a few chats with him, he told me that my soon-to-be client (although I didn’t know it at the time) told me the same thing. 

A few months, and another handshake later, I met my client for the second time. He said to me “Mike, a friend of mine has an apartment with a small piece of furniture in it, and what she wants is for you to match a piece of cherry furniture color and make a shelf out of an existing window sill. I’ve seen your work, and I’d like you to do it.” Upon review, the wood wasn’t cherry at all, rather oak. We started the project with a catalog he had found with lumber with a milled profile in it for the side of the sill. I was able to find a similar profile in a nearby lumber yard. At that point, I bought a small section of the profile, only to be told that “it’s too small” and “she really doesn’t like it, what else you got?” I said “Well, I have some profiles of my own, I will give you a few samples.” After milling out a few samples, I turned them over to the client.

One of the profiles that I had gotten turned out to be a success. I prepared a whole bunch of color samples from dyes I purchased.  It was at this point, the most time was spent doing nothing as my client was off to Paris to enjoy some of the wonderful French wines and cheeses. A color match was found, and the 19 foot of oak was purchased. Shaping and sizing was done. The boards were rough cut, and the run moulding was attached to the boards. I turned over the boards to my client to check the size of my measurements and overall fit.

I found out during the project that he used to be a carpenter and owned his own business. I felt nothing but pride in knowing that an old-time woodworker wanted my work. I also was very fortunate that he was able to guide me through the steps of the process without getting frustrated. The original fit was “neh, ok, but not good enough, oh, and can you mitre the joints on the ends. I don’t want to see the end grain.” It was at this point, that I found out the hard way that the many classes I took on sharpening paid off. My chisels were sharp. Fortunately, the only tool that I’ve ever been injured on was a hand tool. Here a chop, there a chop. Five hours of chopping, and my first ever successful hand tool mitre joint complete. The finishing begun. To be continued….