After a childhood spent helping his dad on jobsites for the modular home construction company started by his grandfather 55 years ago, Kyle started a woodshop in 2013 out of his grandpa’s pole barn building.

He still travels to that area about once a month and uses that pole barn to store the reclaimed lumber that he sources from the southern Illinois area, and that he prefers using in his projects, both for the recycling aspect and the character found in the wood.

Recently, for example, Kyle said he was lucky to come across lumber from someone who had purchased an old mill. “Some of this oak that was in there had just sat in this mill for 40 to 50 years and naturally patinaed. When stuff like that comes along, you just take it, because you know it’s worth it. You don’t have to worry about any nails or screws if you decide to plane it down, but it still has that old look that a lot of people are attracted to. The old saw marks and everything are on the wood, which is cool.”

Kyle’s transition from construction work to furniture and other detailed projects happened over a period of time. Always a painter, he worked for a while at an art studio in Chicago and started building frames for his paintings. Then, he needed a coffee table, “so I decided to make that just by reading and kind of learning as I went.”

He has also learned from other woodworkers, such as his brother-in-law’s father, a retired woodshop teacher, with whom he worked on building a pop-up beer booth for Goose Island Brewery. “He did some cabinetry and a lot of furniture, and he had showed me some things,” Kyle said. Following that Goose Island project, “I started getting orders basically online, and I kind of slipped into [woodworking] full-time,” Kyle said.

These days, while he still does work like kitchen tables, etc., for clients, “I’ve started doing more commercial projects because they’re typically a little bit bigger, and it’s more taking over a space instead of just doing one particular item – which I kind of like.”

In addition to items for Goose Island Brewery (he has also made custom signs and tap box covers for them), one of Kyle’s current projects is for Surge Billiards in Chicago. The location previously existed as a billiards room for about 60 years, and part of the new venue involves bringing in old materials related to that incarnation. Kyle is building a 25-foot long bench utilizing legs from a vintage pool table. He’s also incorporating the molding from a vintage pool table into the tabletop for a conference table for the space.

“Those are the kind of projects I love to do,” Kyle said. “It kind of forces you to be creative, using these miscellaneous items, but it usually turns out really nice.”

One of his favorite non-corporate projects, for example, was a Murphy bed and desk build. Kyle had never built a Murphy bed before, and the client’s request included making adding a desk to the room, which doubled an office and occasional guest room, as well as making the bed “to where you wouldn’t even see it: it almost just looked like a reclaimed wood wall.”

“That was a cool project just because I had never done anything like that. And again, it kind of forced you to be creative when you’re dealing with limited space, and working with the client to give them that look that they’re going for.”

Kyle has also built such things as shelving units and buffet tables through his Antwique Shop woodworking business, and he is part of the “local makers” program through West Elm.

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The T40 Turbo Lathe has features you won’t find on other benchtop lathes. For example, a variable-speed, 1hp industrial servo motor system serves as the spindle drive: it senses resistance to torque being applied to the motor during turning operations, then increases or decreases torque in response. The process takes just two milliseconds — about 100 times faster than comparable lathes, Harvey reports — so you always have the power you need when you need it. The machine has two speed ranges: 50 to 2,800 or 75 to 4,300 RPM, and a digital readout will help you monitor the precise speed being used. The spindle spins in two directions.

This lathe features a 12-in. tool-rest and a 14-in. swing over bed, and it offers 24 inches between centers. Its spindle is equipped with 24 indexing positions and a quick-stop feature. Made with premium grade, precision-ground castings and outfitted with oversized ball bearings, this 178-lb. lathe is built for solid performance with minimal vibration. The headstock swivels 90 degrees, making it easier to turn large-diameter pieces.

The New Harvey Turbo T40 Wood Lathe sells for $2,790. Optional accessories include a tool-rest support for outboard turning ($199), an 18-in. bed extension ($329) and a cast-iron leg set ($549). Learn more about the T40 and watch an overview video by clicking here.

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Tim Inman: Ash has been used as a furniture wood for centuries. It is a white, open coarse-grained wood known for its grain patterns. It has also been the choice wood for baseball bats due to its toughness and flexibility. Treenware is often ash – which is what you’re wanting to use it for. Kitchen utensils and vessels are often ash wood. But, French polishing a salad bowl? No. Unless you’re just wanting to make an ornament, French polish would be a very poor choice. The trouble is, French polish is the most beautiful finish for both the eye and the hand, but it is possibly one of the least durable coatings. That said, however, ash can be French polished. The traditional method of filling the grain might be dispensed with in favor of better modern materials, but it can be polished. For my salad bowls, I prefer to just rub the inside with beeswax followed by a good rub with a fresh-cut clove of garlic. Wonderful!

Chris Marshall: Ash has excellent steam bending properties, cuts and routs cleanly and accepts glue and finishes nicely, too. In fact, Sandor Nagyszalanczy just demonstrated the versatility of ash in a beautiful steambent music stand that appears in our new December 2017 print issue (see below). You can watch of video of him steam bending the legs by clicking here.

Even if you can’t build big projects from your planks and quartered lumber, it might make wonderful keepsake items like picture frames, jewelry boxes, cutting boards and so forth, along with those bowls and spatulas. I’d definitely try to do that before sending it up in flames.

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– Jeanette Kilgore
Columbia, MO

See the Gallery Below:

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Some have indeed. – Editor

“For my upland hunting trips, I can put my dog(s) in the back and still have important items like my guns and ammo safely tucked away from dirty feet and prying noses of my dogs. Plus it is safer for transport and easy to retrieve when you get to a new field or hunting location.” – Brad Brunken

“Indeed, I’ve often made things for hunting and shooting.  Attached is a pic of a simple, however effective, rifle vise, with a cam to tighten it against the back of the stock.  I have a very nice gun cabinet my father made when he was in junior high shop class, circa 1945. He ended up an incredible built-in finish cabinetmaker.” – Rick Corbitt

“While I have not had occasion to make much of beauty in regards to shooting, i have used woodworking for practical applications. My gun bench and gunpowder cabinet I built with leftovers from the shop. I also built a cleaning frame for my AR that holds the lower and barrel at just the right configuration so that dirty patches pop right out of the end of the barrel and into the trash. My leather raft is reserved for gunbelts and holsters. It’s a lot more fun to design and sew my own and much less expensive.” – Lee Ohmart

“Being of a ‘certain age,’ my tramping through the woods days are behind me, but I still have a foot in my other expensive hobby, the shooting sports. I make a variety of pens from the usual kits, but I also make a very popular pen out of real rifle brass. The top is a 30-30 Rem., and the bottom is a 30-06 Sprg. I’m sure you know what I mean. I call it my ‘30-30-06.’ You’ll never guess how I came up with the name! Deep, dark secret! The guts is a slimline 7mm pen, the tip is replaced with a brass plate tip that looks like a jacketed hollow point, and the clip is a lever-action replica in place of the original. A few additional clip varieties are available as well.” – Bruce Edsten

And, for at least one reader, it was a (presumed) hunting hobby that actually got him into woodworking. – Editor

“In a roundabout way, hunting is what got me into woodworking. After getting into archery through teaching it at a camp, I wanted to get my own bow and hopefully someday harvest a deer with it. After going back and forth for several months over what type of bow to get, I decided I would get the most satisfaction from building my own bow. Then eventually I would make arrows and eventually hunt a deer with it. That was the longer and harder route, but hey, if I ever succeeded it would be well worth it.

“Well, I did my research and made an English style longbow. It turned out flawed, but more or less successful. I have enjoyed shooting it and it hasn’t blown up in my face yet. The part where I would start getting into hunting hasn’t panned out, at least not yet.

“But the woodworking part has definitely stuck, despite no intention on my part for it to do so. It’s great for my mental health to get away from the daily grind and concentrate on a woodworking project. I’ve built many things since then, ranging from furniture, toys, and home improvement projects. My most recent build was a bookshelf, which was the first project I built that made me feel like a real woodworker. I even built a much better-looking bow for a friend of mine who is an avid hunter. Maybe some day I will get into hunting, but until then I am enjoying the hobby it did lead me into.” – Matt Brubaker

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