Chapter 1 — A Journey Begins
My Backstory
Today marks the “real beginning” of my journey to becoming a true and accomplished craftsman. Specifically, I’m on a journey to become a furniture maker and professional woodworker through formal education at Port Townsend School of Woodworking. Why do I say the “real beginning”…Because up until this point, I’ve been an amateur, a tinkerer, a dreamer…Today I’m stepping into making my dream a reality.
To really understand my pursuit of the craft of woodworking, I have to jump back 10 years to my transition from 20 years of service in the US Army. I still can remember standing on the platform at my retirement ceremony, thinking…
this is all over now, this part of my identity is being put to rest and now I must reimagine myself and my place in this world
woodworking wasn’t the first thing that I took on…I did what most retired veterans do and searched out a vocation and job that I thought would make a difference in the world. During that first post-retirement year (2013–14) however, I decided I needed to explore a way of turning my extensive Design Thinking education and practice into something tangible, something I could see from concept to finished product in a relatively short period of time.
Up until this point in my life as a designer, I had been solely focused on the design of ideas and strategies. You see that is what we Army Strategists do…we help our commanders and policy leaders to understand and navigate the complex world of military strategy and policy. And as my last assignment in the military I had the privilege to envision, establish, and lead a small team of civilian and military professionals around the whole idea that Strategic Design Inquiry could provide new insights to the decision-making process of leaders within our command.
Why tell you this backstory? Well, it gets you into my mind…into how I’m wired. That experience was professionally rewarding and an amazing learning experience for myself and those of our team. But when I retired, I could not look back at our team and say “we did something that made an impact.” Our ideas and strategies were strong and well thought out, but our charter was not to change the command. Our charter was to provide alternative insights into the decision-making process. So most days we couldn’t point to our “production” material…Sure we wrote papers, and published studies for internal use…but very little of that work showed up downstream as policy changes…and that’s is just fine in my book. I had a mentor once tell me that the life of an Army Strategist is to “never see the results of your hard work.”
But let’s jump forward a few years now…As a result of this first year in retirement, I knew my skills as a designer were sound when it came to ideas, but I wanted to go back to the basics and fundamentals of design as an individual. I needed to see how designers are created through the creation process. Maybe that would make me a better leader and executive director (my first job post-retirement). So I reached back into my memories and remembered that my middle school shop class sparked something in me…I loved to work wood and build things.
So I did something crazy…I decided I would design and more importantly BUILD a standing desk…
So to be clear…I hadn’t touched a serious woodworking tool (other than home repair tools) since middle school. But I was determined to do this over a summer when my workload was lightened. As it happened in our home town at the time, a new maker space had been opened up that provided me all the tools needed to take on this project.
So with the help of an accomplished furniture maker, I started from rough maple lumber and began to turn my drawings into reality…
That experience was life-changing…I finally had something I loved outside of my military service. I had something I could point to a say… I made that, I did that with my own hands from my mind.
But it was also an experience that opened a new door. I wanted to learn how this craft got to where it is today…I wanted to go back to the fundamentals of the craft and understand how furniture design and making developed into what it is today. That led me on a journey of “Traditional Woodworking” as it is called today or more accurately, handtool woodworking. No machines just restored and new handtools and my own skills…
And so my journey begins today with a layout, inventory, cleaning, and inspection of my tools to pack up and hit the road.
The Making of a Craftsman follows Roy as he journeys into the world of professional woodworking through both formal education and self-taught experiences. You can follow his projects and journey here and on Instagram @themakingofacraftsman
