Enjoy a compliation of my publishable woodworking projects. Everything you see has been handmade by me with great attention to detail. After each project, I write some information about my thought process and procedure which goes along with the photos. Some wood for projects was felled and milled by me! Dead trees, which died in California's recent severe drought, are abundant. I like to note the improvement of the quality of many of my projects over time.
Latest Project:
Completed Work:
Pens
Spoons
Furniture
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Materials and Creation
Crafted from Local Wood
Dead trees are given new life and beauty through these projects. As pen/spoon projects don’t require large amounts of wood, most wood is sourced from my backyard. Here are photos showing various types of trees I have used and their respective grain coloring:
Cypress
Strangly enough, we have cypress trees that have purple core wood. Looking online, I could find nothing else like this. One died and I kept the wood.
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus trees have a beautiful orange colored core wood.
Walnut
Below left is a walnut tree that was taken by termites. Rotting parts are left to enrich the soil while we carefully pick out small branches elevated from the ground. The refined walnut on the left was taken from healthier trees in the GP valley.
Creation
There is a unique process for creating each piece. Even within that process each piece has its own variation since they are all handmade. Subtle things often go wrong and need to be fixed. Getting all the little details right results in a stunned overall product.
Youtube video showing the pen making process. (Its parody of ThisOldTony’s Youtube Channel. Check his channel out!)
I’m Thomas Matthew, currently a undergraduate student at UC Berkeley. I enjoy building all sorts of things from computer programs to wooden spoons. Currently, I’m learning how to build websites with hugo and related front end development skills. In school, I’m learning C and some base aspects of how computers work. I’m also a recently certified HAM radio operator!
This site is a both a visual journal and portfolio of my work. I have to give credit to my Dad for his advice to record my projects. It has become a great way to reflect and see how far I’ve come.