BT Woodworks

By day I’m a software engineer. I have been since 2001. Before that I was an automation machine designer and builder. That means that I went from “working with my hands” every day to using those hands to type on a keyboard, all day.

Back in 2019 I hit a threshold, I wanted… no needed… to do something with my hands and build something physical. Woodworking had been something that interested me for years, but I never did anything about out. Hitting that threshold made me take the first step…

Cue up the YouTube videos. Many YouTube videos. I got the bug and started to buy a bunch of equipment I thought I needed (because of the aforementioned YouTube videos) and began coming up with projects to build. Ok, it was mostly project ideas from my wife.

Working with machinery is not something that spooks me, I spent a lot of time in my previous career(s) working with machines. But, I was starting to get an unsettling feeling with my hands mere inches away from a spinning saw blade. Of course it was “safety first” in my workshop, but I just felt there was a better, safer, way of working wood. Some of those YouTube videos I watched proved it.

I’ve heard the difference between hand tool only wood working and using equipment is that the former is called “working with wood” and the latter is called “machining wood”. As a former machinist I can attest to this sentiment. Although I still use some powered equipment (a band saw and thickness planer are way too helpful to give up!) I’ve strived to do as much as possible with hand tools at my bench.

Now that brings me to my love of desk stationary. Primarily pencils, pens, and notebooks. The digital world just can’t hold a candle to the tactile nature of pen/pencil and paper. To-do lists on a Travelers Company notebook with a Musgrave Tennessee Red pencil adds a joy to my workday that far exceeds any efficiency I get with software solutions. Paper-based daily planning has been something I’ve been doing since I bought my first Moleskine notebook back in 2006.

So that brings me to today, 4 years after starting woodworking, and I want to share my love of woodworking and tactile desk products with the greater world. Welcome to my site! I’m just getting this started but over time I’ll be adding more content related to these passions of mine. One of the goals is to actually sell desk products, both handcrafted by me and some select products I use every day.

So, I hope you stick around and see where I take this! Stay tuned!