our story

      Our story really begins with my father, Elbert Harvey Wood Jr., born in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1916.  In the course of growing up there he worked in railroad camps as a cook and then as a carpenter.  His carpentry skills landed him in the SeaBees on Guam when he was drafted into the U.S. Navy for World War II.  Elbert met Marlys Bronson from Montana at the University of Washington after the war, and they married and started their family with sons David (1949) and Doug (1951) , who both learned woodworking from dad.  We boys grew up in a house the family built in 1958, learning how to saw boards and pound nails from a very early age. 

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      That house was built on 3 acres with a shop and good-sized adjacent carport, which saw lots of carpentry and metalworking that produced cabinets, wooden boats, minibikes, utility trailers, and more.  Elbert was ambidextrous and could pound nails with both hands. So, when one arm got tired, he just switched the hammer to his other hand.  Nobody could match that, but we did try.  The only power tool we had in the early days was a Craftsman table saw with a reasonably good assortment of accessories.  He boasted that he had one of the only ones around with a 1 HP motor!  We boys were not allowed to use it until properly trained at about 12 years old.  Therefore, we mastered the use of hand tools early on: ripping and crosscut hand saws, hand planes, chisels, and of course hammers.