My names is Caleb James and I make hand tools, furniture and teach woodworking. That's simple enough but how I got here is a longer story.
My father was a woodworker. A house framer/builder to be more exact but he was the first to introduce me to a brace and bit, hand planes, etc. I spent many a summer and odd weekend building additions to homes and the like. It was a great learning process.
My first taste for furniture making was in a seventh grade shop class. We got cherry off cuts from a cabinet shop donated to us and we made stools. I guess that was a sign of many chairs that would be made in my future.
Fast-forward to married life and my first home. There I cobbled together, what I thought was, furniture with a garage sale table saw. After much self study in woodworking magazines and books I began to make giant strides. I stumbled upon Windsor chairs at this time and it took hold of my imagination. However, it wasn't until I became obsessed with Danish Modern furniture from the master craftsman and designer Hans Wagner that I completely gave myself over to the endeavor of chairmaking as my sole hobby.
CJ Stamp shown on the end of my spokeshave handles.
After 8 years of running my own successful business and with the addition of my second child to the family I decided to sell my business and become a full-time chairmaker in 2011. I had been making furniture as a hobby for six years at that point and the last two for clients on the side. Even so, it was a huge learning curve but I never looked back. By 2013 my planemaking/toolmaking bloomed into nearly all my work and it overtook my furniture making within two years. That consumed the bulk of my work for about 5 years.
In those years I’ve spend most days making tools in the 18th & 19th century style with a special interest and focus on Windsor chairmaker's tools. My spokeshave has become the most produced tool in my line of offerings.
I currently teach chairmaking in the Danish Modern style and spend the remainder of my time working on my first book for Lost Art Press on Danish Modern Chairmaking. Thats my life in a nutshell.
Enjoy!
Caleb James