Highland Woodworks

Hand-made, small scale furniture design and construction using locally sourced, sustainable material There are slabs as thick as 3 inches.

I have the space now to begin building projects on commission, so if you've been thinking about a piece of furniture or cabinetry that you just can't find anywhere else, let's talk. I have access to black cherry and maple that I harvested and milled myself in Sullivan County on the property of Frost Valley YMCA where our kids went to summer camp. It's been air-drying in the woods for almost 3 year

08/15/2026

08/14/2026

(Note: The old Disston saw, a legendary Philly brand, belonged to my dad, Earl. He used it on many Habitat for Humanity projects, and although it’s tuned as a crosscut saw it worked fine for this. I’m actually going to have it re-set for ripping since I very rarely need to crosscut by hand. That might have shaved off ten minutes of work.)

My band saw (which I got from my mom, Skip) is limited to 6” so if I want to split a board larger than that in two (like pages of a book) I have to put in a little work.

For this walnut slab (14”x17”) the trick was to make a rip cut along all of the edges with the table saw, which allows me to remove about 4”. This kerf guides the hand saw as I slice thorough the bulk of the board. The video shows about 45 minutes of work in a minute…

07/30/2026

Starting a new project with some California claro walnut I’ve been hanging onto for almost 20 years, using a carbide bandsaw blade I bough 10 years ago. Some things just can’t be rushed!

(I wondered at the time whether the blade would be worth $125. It is. It’s not even noticing the 2” of walnut.)

07/27/2026

The latest Highland Woodworks commission is a project after my own heart…
Super sturdy, sustainable Pennsylvania ash, the same stuff good baseball bats are made of.