Hi folks, I’m Jim Ashley. I’m a husband, dad, and IT person as my official occupation. I do enjoy technology, although woodworking and the related content creation I do is one of the ways in which I “unplug” from the IT world. I am also an amateur (a.k.a. ham) radio operator, SKYWARN spotter and dabbler in photography.

I’ve been around tools all my life. My dad had a nice compliment of tools he built over the years. It was a fairly typical collection of homeowner DIY/hobbyist tools for the time. He was an engineer until he retired and enjoyed woodworking as well as other other crafting in his spare time. As he taught me how to use tools as I was growing up, he had three main rules for me. One, be safe and respect the tool. Two, let the tool do the work – don’t force it. Three, put the tools back where they belong. He didn’t want to go on a hunt for his own tools when he needed them. If I broke that rule, the privilege would be lost! This is probably the main reason I tend to be pretty organized in my shop. My mom was a bit more of a worrier. She didn’t like the idea of me using any power tools, but dad convinced her that the scroll saw was pretty tame (once I was old enough). Every time she heard a power tool, she’d ask if it was the scroll saw. I’d yell “Yep! It’s the scroll saw, mom!”. It may or may not have been… I do miss them both.

I met my beautiful wife in 1993 while we were both attending the same college. I was studying physics/computer electronics. When we started dating, it was also my first taste at what a pro woodworking shop might look like. My (to be) father-in-law was an experienced cabinetmaker, who, though he went into other lines of work, still woodworked out of his garage and basement. He kept a full compliment of tools, including the “big” tools such as the jointer, planer and cabinet tablesaw. I miss him too.

It was in 2005, however, that I really got bit by the woodworking bug. Our son Ian (you may know him as “The Goofball” in some of my videos over the years) was born 10 weeks early at 2 lbs 6 oz, and needed to spend two months at Brigham & Women’s Hospital NICU in Boston before coming home. This also meant that his room was nowhere near ready. Once he was home and I was able to eventually return to working on his room (in which both my father and father-in-law were of great assistance), I built some built-in boxes to replace a couple of doors that led to crawl spaces, as well as an old 1960s, no longer functioning, TV that was built into the wall (seriously). I figured a place to put books and toys was a far better option versus a toddler crawling around where there’s dust, splinters, wires, etc, or just simply locking those doors and not making use of that space.

When I completed those, I said to myself, “Self, that was fun!”. It was an empowering thing to be able to custom build an improvement over what was there before. I needed to learn more. In those days before YouTube became a household thing, I subscribed to a couple of iTunes Video Podcasts The Wood Whisperer and Matt’s Basement Workshop. I still remember young Ian running through the house yelling “Router bit of the month!”. Through early email exchanges with both Marc and Matt, as well as making online connections with folks, I realized that this was a community of makers being built in real time. Since then, I’ve connected and become friends with so many great folks in our maker community!

In 2009, wanting to start dabbling in some content creation, I felt my shop and content needed a name. With a science/technical background and a love to experiment, “The Wood Lab” was born.

Fast forward to today; the experimentation and making continue. Today, I have a woodshop in our mid 19th century home’s basement, incorporating a blend of power tools, hand tools and digital tools.

Please feel free to follow things here and on any of my social platforms. Also, check out the online shop for items that are for sale!

Thanks for stopping by! (And if you’re a ham, 73)

– Jim (KM1TWL)