As I start each day, I reflect on the blessings in my life, and pray that I use them to make the world a bit more beautiful and honor the blessings God has given me.
About Me
I was born in Salem in 1952 and began learning the fundamentals of woodworking at a young age from my father Bob Anderson, an orthopedic surgeon, in the hobby shop at our home. Woodworking was always an important part of my life, but it was not until an experience in Tacoma Washington in 1975 that I realized it would be my life’s work. I was in the initial stages of a math education program at Pacific Lutheran University. After spending two weeks observing in a less than inspiring algebra classroom, I thought I should check out the woodworking program. I had never been in a high school woodshop before, having learned it at home, but from the moment I stepped in the door, I knew this was the direction my life would go.
I returned to Salem, met my wife to be Nancy, and completed Industrial Arts Education training at Oregon State University. My first teaching job was in St Helens Oregon in 1979, and I returned to Salem to North Salem High School in 1981. I taught there till 2009 when I retired.
At the same time I started a teaching career, I also began taking furniture design and construction very seriously. I formed a small business that accompanied my teaching. Showing my students the things I was working on was always an important part of my program.
Along with the woodworking, my father and I collected local hardwood logs, primarily Black Walnut. We had the logs sawn into lumber at a local mill, and used the wood in the furniture we were building for friends and family. I was selling most of my work. In 1988, the search for an improved shop led my family and I to a small acreage off State St. east of Salem. With more space available, the wood collecting really picked up speed. My father and I were collecting trees as fast as we could find them.
The next major phase came in 2003 when I added a small saw mill capable of cutting 30” wide boards to my operation. With this mill, I could now make the lumber himself. I retired from teaching in June of 2009 and became fully involved in making furniture from the lumber I had produced.
Other important mile stones include:
- having photos of my work included in the Fine Woodworking Design Book II 1979
- Several juried shows at the Oregon forestry Center in the early 1980s
- Displaying work at the Salem Art Fair in 1985, 87, 89, and 91
- Selling work in Several l Northwest galleries
