You know you're a woodworker if

You cut yourself with a chisel and you’re more concerned about not getting blood on your workpiece than you are about the laceration.

You inexplicably find sawdust in your drawers. And I’m not talking about furniture.

You have dropped to your knees and looked beneath a table in a museum, a gallery, an historic home, or a friend’s house.

You cannot resist the temptation to lift the lid on a wooden box.

You can talk to your partner/spouse/significant other for HOURS about woodworking despite the glazed over look in his/her eyes.

You can spend an entire day in your shop, accomplish little if anything, and thoroughly enjoy it.

You know exactly where everything is in your shop....except for a pencil.

You have built more projects in your head than in actuality.

Your spouse/partner/lovedones/pets know not to bother you, and sometimes choose to run for cover, when you are gluing up a project.

You remove more splinters from your hands in a month than most people do in a lifetime.

You can correctly pronounce Padauk and Lignum Vitae.

Do you have an animal companion in your shop?

So, hey, Guild members and readers of our blog ... how about sharing stories and photos of your companion animals, especially animals that spend time with you in your woodworking shops? You can share tales of shop companions in the comments of this post, or send an email to helenawoodworkers(at)gmail(dot)com along with photos if you have them, and I will add yours to this post. Let's get some dialogue going on our website. Thanks -- I'm looking forward to seeing the animals other woodworkers share their shops with.


Kita, one of the sweetest dogs I've ever met, leans in for a "kiss" from Tim. Kita lives with Tracy Hamilton, who works at Timothy's Fine Woodworking. She comes to the shop with Tracy every day.



This is Sadie, who until late winter 2007, lived at Tim Carney's shop. Sadie died in March this past year. She was a victim of some of the tainted pet food that killed and sickened so many other pets in the US. Before Sadie moved to Helena with Tim in 1996, she lived with him in an earth sheltered house in Pocatello, Idaho -- she was an excellent mouser.


Kita greets her old friend, Sam, who used to be the main shop dog before he became deaf. Sam is now 18 years old and stays at home with Maureen, supervising her design business. Sam occasionally visits the shop to greet customers and put up with Kita's licks and frolicking.


For a couple of years, Tim's shop had a resident toad. We never did find out the toad's name. He/she hung out sometimes in the wet spot from a slow leak of the hot water tank. Good place to sit if you're a cold-blooded creature. Our shop toad was a bit on the shy side -- not quite as enthusiastic as Kita is, to greet customers.


Tracey (above) is Kita's human


Kita