Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  Do you have any work currently for sale?
A:  Yes!  The Gallery page shows all my work.  The colour thumbnails indicate that the piece is for sale.

Q:  I like what I see in your Gallery, but I don’t see exactly what I have in mind.  Can we talk?
A:  Sure.  You can e-mail me at Chris@FlairWoodworks.com or call me at 778-318-4664.

Q:  The wood that you use is amazing!  Where do you get it?
A:  I use local woods milled to my specifications by a local sawyer.  We work together to plan each cut to get the best yield from each log.  It is a time consuming process, as I like to be there to direct and oversee every cut, but I think it is a good investment of my time.

Q:  You are very talented.  How did you learn woodworking?
A:  I was self-taught.  When I was getting started, I read lots of books and studied tool catalogs to familiarize myself with what can be done.  Then I began practicing and experimenting, something I will continue to do forever.

Q:  You don’t look that old.  How old are you, and how long have you been doing woodworking?
A:  I was born in 1987.  I began woodworking seriously around 1999 and started Flair Woodworks in 2008.

Q:  How do you flatten such big pieces of wood?
A:  I use hand-held planes.  I discuss the reasoning behind my methods here.

Q:  This feels very smooth.  Do you spend a lot of time sanding?
A:  Yes, when required.  Sanding is a good technique in certain applications, but in other situations, other techniques are better.  This post describes some of the factors I consider when deciding whether to sand or plane.

Q:  You seem to like quotes.  Do you have a collection of your favourites?
A:  I have an ever-growing list of quotes about art and woodworking on the page titled Quotables.

Q:  You are very creative.  Have you heard of TED Talks or PechaKucha?
A:  Yes and yes.  I find many TED talks to be very interesting and inspiring, and I maintain a list of the ones that I enjoyed.  I also did a PechaKucha presentation and I will post the video when I get it from the organizers.

Q:  You have a great blog and lots of interesting posts.  Is there an easy way to browse them?
A:  The Entry List has the titles of each of my posts in reverse chronological order which link to that article.  You can also try the search function at the top or bottom of any page.

Q:  I have been following your live updates.  You make things look so easy.  How much planning goes into your work?
A:  For much of my work, I rely extensively on my experience and intuition.  I am constantly assessing my progress and making decisions on the fly.

Q:  Like you, I find woodworking fascinating.  Can you recommend some books to expand my horizons?
A:  I like books that provide inspiration and challenge my thinking.  Some of my favourite books are on the page, Recommended Readings.

Q:  Do you ever find that you’re unable to get into gear when trying to create?  Do you have any tips on how to get going?
A:  Everybody struggles with inspiration at some point in time.  I think that the most important thing is to do something.  One of the simple exercises I like is drawing simple lines on wood and carving to them, revealing new forms and shapes.

Q:  What’s this I heard about you giving away woodworking stuff?
A:  That’s my Overflow program, which I started December 2011.  The idea is to free my shop of things I don’t use and get them into the hands of woodworkers who could benefit from them.  Here are the details on Overflow.