The piece you keep picturing

Let’s talk about building it. One pair of hands, solid hardwood, a shop in Virden, Manitoba — and a piece that will not exist anywhere else.

What a project is

If what you want is a cutting board or a butcher block, build it here — that one you can specify and order yourself in about a minute.

This page is for everything else. A cradle. A shadow box for a folded flag and a row of medals. A cabinet built around a room you are still describing to me. A trophy, a keepsake, a piece of furniture, a thing there is not really a word for yet.

Large or small. I have built a carved cookbook holder and an end-grain chess board, and I am equally interested in both. What they have in common is solid hardwood, no veneer, and one person building it start to finish.

Some recent pieces

Not a catalogue — just a sense of the range. Every one of these was built to be handed down.

How it works

1. A conversation. You tell me what you are picturing. You do not need drawings and you do not need to know what species you want — that part is my job. What helps most: what the piece is for, where it will live, rough dimensions, whether there is a date attached, and roughly what you had in mind to spend. If it is not a good fit I will say so early.
2. Design, drawings and a firm price. I come back with a design, the wood I would use and why, a fixed price and a delivery window. Nothing is locked until you have approved all of it.
3. The build. Your deposit puts the piece in the shop queue — work is scheduled in the order deposits arrive. I send progress photos as it goes.
4. Delivery. Before anything is crated I send photos, or we get on a video call so you can look at it properly. Then it ships tracked, anywhere in Canada or the United States. Within driving distance of Virden I will bring it myself.

What it costs

I do not publish prices for project work, because there is not an honest one to publish — a keepsake box and a dining table are the same craft and completely different arithmetic. What I can tell you is exactly what moves the number:

• The wood. The single biggest lever. Hard maple and walnut sit at one end; padauk, zebrawood and purpleheart are several times the price per board foot.
• Size and thickness. Not linear — a piece twice the size is usually more than twice the material and more than twice the milling.
• The joinery. What holds it together, and whether it has to hold together for eighty years.
• Detail work. Inlays, carving, patterns, engraving. This is where the hours go.
• The finish. A hard oil and a fully sealed ceramic finish are different jobs.

Tell me what you are after and roughly what you had in mind to spend, and I will tell you straight away whether we are in the same neighbourhood. That conversation is free and there is no obligation at the end of it. It is not necessarily more expensive to commission a piece than to buy one — though it will cost more than the equivalent from a big-box store, and it should.

How long it takes

It depends entirely on the piece. Honestly:

• Cribbage boards and small carved pieces — 1 to 2 weeks, depending on the build and the species.
• Cutting boards and butcher blocks — 3 to 4 weeks.
• Furniture and larger one-offs — 6 to 8 weeks. A crib, for instance, is a 6 to 8 week build.

The clock starts when you approve the design, not when you first email — so a quick reply from you is the single biggest thing that moves the date forward.

Hoping for Christmas? A one-off needs to be agreed by mid-November. After that I cannot promise it lands under the tree, and I would rather say so in August than in December.

Deposit and payment

A 50% deposit puts your piece in the queue. The balance is due before it ships, by which point you will have seen photographs of the finished piece.

The deposit is fully refundable right up until I start cutting and buy the materials. After that it is not, because by then the wood is in the shop with your name on it.

Good to know

• Every piece is one of one. I do not repeat a commission for someone else.
• The first conversation is free. You get a real price and a real timeline before you commit to anything.
• Distance does not matter. Most of this happens by email, photos and video. I have never met most of the people whose boards are in their kitchens.
• Solid hardwood only. No veneer, no MDF core, no plywood pretending to be something else.
• I do not turn wood. There is no lathe here — no turned legs, bowls or spindles. Everything is flat stock, joinery and CNC.
• I will not copy another maker’s design. Bring it as inspiration and I will build you something of your own.

Tell me what you are thinking

No commitment and no sales pitch — share what you have in mind and I will come back to you within two business days.

Not sure what to write? Something like this is perfect:

“Hi Jonathan — I am after a shadow box for my grandfather’s folded flag and his service medals. I would like it to hang in our front hall, so somewhere around 20 by 20 inches, with glass. I like darker woods, maybe walnut. No hard deadline but I would love it before Remembrance Day. I was thinking somewhere in the $400 to $600 range — is that realistic?”

Questions people ask

I am not sure what I want yet — is that a problem?
No. That is the job. Most commissions start as a rough idea and a room.

Do I get to see a drawing first?
Yes, and a firm price with it. Nothing is fixed until you approve both.

Can I see it being made?
I send progress photos, and a proper look at the finished piece before it is crated.

I am not in Manitoba. Does that matter?
Not at all. Most of this happens by email and photos, and I ship across Canada and the United States.

Can you match a piece I found online?
I will happily look at it for inspiration, but I will not copy another maker’s design.

What if I do not like it?
You will have approved the drawing and seen the photos, so it should not come to that — and the deposit is refundable right up until I buy the wood.