Welcome to the Blogosphere, David

When I look back to my first days as a staff writer at Woodshop News more than a decade ago, I recall that the name DeCristoforo jumped out at me. While I had been both a writer and a woodworker for some time, the world of professional woodworking was somewhat new to me. Sitting at my desk in those first days, I flipped through several issues of the magazine and was bombarded with the names of the professionals in the industry; Maloof, Flexner, Nagyszalanczy, Bird, Cliffe, DeCristoforo and dozens more.

As the months and then years passed, I became very familiar with those names, either through the pages of the magazine or through personal experience. In fact, in the dozen years since I first walked through the door at Woodshop News, I’ve met most of those people, and now consider many of them friends. However, even though I’d worked closely with the guy named David DeCristoforo through the magazine, I’ve never met him in person. I first knew David as a writer for the magazine, a peer of mine, if you will. After I was promoted to editor, I became, in a manner of speaking as it applied to the articles he wrote for me, his boss on an issue-by-issue, article-by-article basis.

And imagine that: David DeCristoforo with anything that approximates a “boss.” If you know him the way I do, you would be chuckling at the thought, too. David knows no boss.

David is a 35-year woodworking professional and designer of furniture so exquisite that it’s equaled only by his chess sets. (I’m familiar with the term “chess master,” and while it usually applies to the likes of Fischer and Kasparov, once you’ve seen one of his chess sets you’ll want to apply the term differently.) His skill runs in the family – his father R.J. DeCristoforo was the author of some 50 woodworking books and countless articles; his son David R.B.J. DeCristoforo is an integral part of David DeCristoforo Design, the family business.

David DeCristoforo is talented, skilled, brazen, opinionated, and eager to give instruction in equal measure with criticism. He’ll be the first to tell you you’re wrong, follow up by telling you why, and then show you the right way to do it. And he’s just a little bit impressed (and rightly so) with himself. No wonder I like him.

So, you’re not familiar with David DeCristoforo? Not a problem; you will be. Beginning this week, David’s blog, “This business about woodworking,” joins mine here on the Woodshop News Web site. While my blog looks at the larger world of woodworking, David’s will hone in on the professional shop, addressing the issues important to the pro woodworker. You can count on his insights to be informative, instructional, commercial and sometimes – if I know him (and I do) – controversial. I can’t wait to read what he has to say.

I’m sure he and I will interact here in this segment of the Blogosphere called Woodshop News. We’ll probably agree with one another most of the time, but if we don’t, I’m sure that one of us will let you know about it.

Till next time,

A.J.