About Notch & Plane
I’m just a boy, standing in front of a client, asking them to let me build their bookshelves.
I spent nearly three decades in the fast-paced industries of Finance and Technology. I learned a ton about design, setting budgets, and managing businesses along the way. Through it all though, my passion was always simply creating things with my hands. There is something magical about taking an idea and physically shaping it into an actual thing. The tactile experience. The way sawdust smells on the floor of a shop. The way an object fits into its surroundings. There is a reward that comes with creating things with wood that I could never fully satisfy in my career.
For years, my day job paid the bills, while I ran side projects from my shop, purely for the joy of it. In March 2022, I retired from Microsoft and decided it was time to follow my passion full-time. Notch & Plane was born.
What’s in the box?
It’s been said many times that a simple wooden box may be the ideal learning tool for a woodworker. Why? Because you can pick up a single piece of wood and shape it into something elegant and precise, yet simple. All while using some of the most important skills that any quality woodworker will carry with them for a lifetime.
There are lot of small details that go into a simple box. Designing, resawing, Joining and planing, surface conditioning and preparing, tongue and grooving, dovetailing vs. mitering, finishing—it all needs to be done with precision and care.
I was fortunate to hone my skills at a small Georgetown fine woodworking design school and studio. I came to the school with years of experience, but upon arrival I found high caliber instructors schooled in design who have spent decades perfecting their skills and imparting their wisdom to new generations of creators.
The skills developed when you make a box are legitimately important. But those skills are by no means exhaustive. Every woodworker worth their salt knows the learning journey never really ends, because every piece of wood is different, and most projects hopefully are too.
Book a Consultation
We’ll walk through your project, then you’ll get a detailed proposal and budget.