Woodworking is high on the list of industries that are experiencing a shortage of skilled employees. With unemployment rates at the lowest level in decades and wages at their highest, the lack of skilled people is becoming more and more obvious.

It’s not unusual or unreasonable for people to want something unique. We are not all the same and that’s a good thing.

I have a lot of pieces of wood that are too good to throw away but too small to really be useful. We sometimes call pieces like this scrap, but I have always maintained that there is no such thing as scrap.

When is it good enough? I am at a stage in life where most people would consider me to be a master. And you’d think, at this point, I have little left to learn.

In our business we are often asked to do things a bit differently than we’re used to. People want to individualize their projects. They don’t want to pay premium prices for something that looks just like what they could have bought at the local furniture store.

I saw an article the other day about home prices. This particular home was in Sunnyvale, Calif., and sold for over $2,000 a square foot. Yes, this was a record.

I have tried to avoid discussing anything political here. This is supposed to be about running a shop. But completely separating business and politics is like separating the cart and the horse.

My father in law ran a cattle ranch in Nevada. He always stressed the importance of being able to do any job on the ranch.

Everyone in business has an image in their mind of what their dream employee would be. There is a tendency, when interviewing potential employees to look indications that fit that image. This can lead to a distorted, idealized view of the person being considered, leading us to see things that might not really be there.