Jack began his interest in woodworking at Sibley High School under the tutelage of Mr. Joe Spitznagel, his shop teacher. He continued his interest while in college by building a movie projector cabinet for his Mom and Dad and then a rather large desk for himself. Woodworking took a back seat for a year as he worked on his Master of Arts degree at Michigan State University. Upon graduation in 1964, Jack was transfered to the Los Angeles by the US Air Force.

His interest in woodworking was cultivated again by the wonderful wood shop at the Los Angeles Air Force Station. This woodworking shop along with an auto repair and lubrication shop were available to all members of the US Air Force and were staffed by some very outstanding and talented NCOs. Jack built a credenza type entertainment cabinet, some shelves and a toy box for Tim and Vicki.

Again, woodworking took a back seat while Jack and Char moved to the USAF Academy and then back to the Twin Cities where he joined Honeywell. Toward the end of Jack's assignment in Germany, he visited his Italian relatives in Lanciano, Italy. There he found that his ancestors in Italy had been and were still master furniture craftsmen. One of his relatives, Nino, was teaching wood inlay techniques at at trade school in Lanciano.

After returning from Germany, the family resided in Mendota Heights at 822 Park Place Drive. They built a new home there and Jack had the ground excavated under the three car garage for both storage but also as his first serious woodworking shop. Jack's first major purchase was a very complete Shopsmith Mark V "five in one" woodworking station. The unit cost almost $5000 new but Jack spotted an ad in the St. Paul Pioneer Press that offered the complete station, a stand alone planer, a jointer attachment and a plethera of accessories such as saw blades and lathe knives for ONLY $1500. A Northwest Airlines pilot who lived in Richfield was retiring and moving to Hawaii and had to end his woodworking hobby. Jack looked at what he was selling, gave him $200 cash to hold it and said he would be back in 30 minutes to pick everything up. Below is what Jack purchased for that $1500.

When Char and Jack sold 822 Park Place, they moved nearby in Mendota Heights where Jack added on a 750 square foot workshop. He was in seventh heaven indeed. With all the extra room, Jack decided to move away from the Shopsmith because the table saw set up was just not safe and the it took time to change from one tool to another. So Jack began selling parts of the Shopsmith on eBay and found some great prices for the various parts and accessories. In fact, he reaped about $5000 by selling the parts and then invested in many new, stand-alone, quality woodworking power tools.

So that brings us up to date. You may select from the links at the left to see some of the woodworking projects Jack built since about 1994. He doesn't build projects for sale. All of these projects have been built for family members at their request.