About
Hi, I’m Tom. I was born in the United States back in the last century to parents that had a bad antique addiction. They finally decided that instead of trying to control their addiction they should just give in. they became antique dealers. I grew up counting the number of boards used to make the top of a table, measuring the top of a round table to tell how old it was, looking at the back of furniture and the bottoms of drawers to judge the craftsmanship. This upbringing gave me the appreciation of proper fit and the knowledge of design elements that hold up to the ravages of time and use.
While in school I worked many different service jobs. I learned the most important part was taking care of the customer. It sounds obvious, but I would always shake my head at the businesses that didn’t get it. Normally they didn’t last very long. When I moved to Germany, I was shocked at the level of service I saw every day. The people were far more knowledgeable than I was used to, but there always seemed to be more obstacles to dealing with the company than the product was worth.
I used to be a CNC tool grinder. That’s a fancy way of saying, I used a computerized machine to make the different cutters and such that other computerized machines needed to make things. It had the charm of sitting at a computer and the cleanliness of working a deep-fryer at McDonalds.
In 2016 I decided to start making things with my hands, out of a material that feels warm and alive. That’s when I started Brasswood Handwork. Now I use machines that were made before Univac was a gleam in an electrical engineer’s eye, and my main material was grown, not mined out of the ground. The work is a whole lot dustier, but it puts a smile on my face.
I bring my experience to Brasswood every day, from the design to last a lifetime to our friendly and helpful interactions with our customers. All of the items on this site were designed and produced by me, from the pencil design on a piece of paper to the final application of the beeswax finish. I chose and prepared every piece of wood, finessed every curve, and sanded every finish. I hope my products bring you as much joy to use as it brought me to make.
