James R. Vander Schaaf

Jim Vander Schaaf is a local Maine wood artisan and furniture builder, whose website is http://www.downeastwoodart.com/

He loves creating and building unique art in wood. His work is intended to add beauty, be unique and harmonize with your environment. He uses the finest materials, mostly black cherry, but also ash, black walnut, maple and oak, and achieves a smooth luster and protects the wood with a hand rubbed method.

Purpose: Why am I a Woodworker?

Because woodworking is a craft and a profession, that requires ever increasing skills to produce objects that draw the eye, appeal to the senses, are functional, and give the pleasure of being self-created. In a world which values immediate satisfaction (which seldom is lasting), woodworking provides a longer term satisfaction that comes from relishing the furniture you have created. To see the expressions of delight and pleasure that a piece you’ve created gives others is deeply satisfying.

While it doesn’t demand perfection, the craft of woodworking encourages it. Learning is continuous to the open mind. Alternative methods abound and there are many ways to achieve a similar result. Each day in my shop, I learn something new, even building furniture I’ve built before.

The subject of woodworking is broad and deep and includes: understanding wood in its many forms, safety with tools, power and hand tools, joinery, jigs and fixtures, methods and techniques, design and styles, and finishing. Each of these is a study in itself – requiring study, practice and refinement.

Finally woodworking craftsmanship fulfills a spiritual need within me to connect attitude with skills; creation with satisfaction; tool usage with purpose; and learning with practiced growth.

After a pre-engineering curriculum at Calvin College, he graduated from the University of Michigan (BS and MS degrees in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and Aerospace Engineering). Later he graduated from Johns Hopkins (MS Computer Science) and studied Law thru a correspondence course. His career was with government and industry, lastly as a manager of Advanced Shipbuilding Technology and Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) at Bath Iron Works. He subsequently formed two consulting companies which improved organizational effectiveness (by focusing on people, process and technology).