Meet the Maker

That’s me, Dan, on the left. The young fella on the right is my dad - the real woodworker.

My dad spent more than two decades teaching woodworking at my rival high school, something I had little interest in until I found myself with a garage, a couple power tools and a need for a few tables to furnish my new home.

As many millennial makers begin their journey, I saw a few easy pallet projects while browsing ‘The Google’, which inspired me to stuff a pile of dirty, broken, chemically saturated pallets into the back of my ‘07 Jeep Liberty, which I formally referred to as Shrek. Upon a little trial and error, I quickly discovered there were various grades of pallets. Much of the first batch found it’s way into my fire pit, but upon further examination I found a few pallets built from nice hard maple. Operation ‘build tables so I don’t have to buy them’ commenced. At this point, my garage was bare and my tool collection was in its infancy, but I successfully built one coffee table and two end tables from repurposed pallets and a few pieces of purchased pine. Was I onto something here?

While spending an exhaustive amount of time acquainting myself to my orbital sander, I realized I was enjoying this new concept of building and creating. I was never an “artist”, but I’ve always had an appreciation for art and the creative process that goes into it. With that in mind, I looked into the eyes of my orbital sander and excitedly asked, “Did we just become best friends?!” He abruptly replied, “YUP!”.

Fast forward a few years, my passion for woodworking and '“making” had blossomed and I had now begun to network with other makers who were building furniture, charcuterie boards and crafting 3D signs. While the specific act of sanding was not my favorite part of the process, I found myself doing it a lot. So much I think I was speaking it in my sleep…Sand…Sandy…Sanding…Sandlot…Sandlot? Like the movie? Like that hidden gem of a field where those 9 kids escaped to have the time of their lives playing baseball? As I replayed scenes from The Sandlot movie in my head, I was bubbling with nostalgia. My “Sandlot” was my garage. My workshop. My space to have fun, grow and build. At that moment, Sandlot Creative Co. was born.