It’s a fair question and a question that I should definitely be asking more often, so congratulations. My name is Stephen Ashlock and I’ve been working with wood for as long as I can remember, and my family has been for generations. As a child, when my family built a deck and I couldn’t help I stole offcuts and built a small stool that was too short and pretty inconvenient.

And I was so proud of it.

Then I didn’t really do much woodwork for years. I helped build a deck or three, and I loved to spend hours sharpening sticks into spears that I couldn’t have hunted a barn with. But in some ways woodworking, and the fine woodworking that I was most interested in, felt beyond me. How would I start? Where would I do it?

At this point I lived in an apartment, and I spent hours sanding a dining table so that when I refinished it, it would feel like mine. I sanded uneven end grain cutting boards for hours (I really need to send an apology to my neighbors at the time). That really ignited my passion for learning woodcraft, and for trying to do things that were beyond my skillset.

I built an epoxy table using a log that I had milled. It’s beautiful, and it’s flawed. And the only thing I want to do is make another table, maybe not with epoxy. I want to try again.

That’s where Ashlock Woodcraft comes into the picture. I don’t want to stop woodworking, and I can’t stuff my family’s homes with more wooden products. Even though I definitely will. Instead I want to spend more time working, learning, experimenting. I want to see people enjoying the things I make, and I want to share that joy and beauty that I find in this natural, imperfect material.

I hope you will come along with me on this journey of discovery and learning, and I appreciate all of you that visit this site.