I've often been asked by customers how it came that I went to Germany and learned carpentry. Well, it just happened. I learned German for four years in high school, before I went to Centre College in Danville, KY and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and German. I was in Germany for the first time in 1988 with the CIEE (Council for International Educational Exchange) which enabled me to work there for several months. The opportunity to go back to Germany came senior year as recipient of a Watson Fellowship. Each year, in the entire United States, there are 75 Watson Fellowships awarded to graduating seniors of private liberal-arts colleges.

The Watson Fellowship calls itself a "Wanderjahr" and pays for a year in a foreign country. In my application for the award, I proposed to research the old German tradition of the Wanderjahr. There is nothing comparable in Anglo-Saxon cultures. Craftsmen of all kinds have been going on the Wanderjahr since the 12th century. For "3 years and a day", so dictates the tradition, young craftsmen that had finished their apprenticeship were not allowed to near their home. Required to travel "abroad" to learn skills and traditions of other regions and hone their own abilities. The tradition of the Wanderjahr is still alive in Germany today and the traditional Kluft or garb/uniform portrayed above is still worn by these traveling Journeymen today.

My personal version of the Wanderjahr began in the Odenwald, south of Frankfurt am Main and my hikes through East Germany and the German north brought me many interesting encounters with journeymen and master carpenters. At the end of my own year, I was invited to be a guest at a guild meeting and a Master carpenter offered me an 3 year apprenticeship in his shop in Hamburg. During my time as an apprentice, I would spend part of the time working in the shop and part of the time at trade school, learning skill-specific subjects.

This special apprenticeship system in Germany, called "Dual System", is unique with the combination of learning practical knowledge of experienced masters and theoretical knowledge of your craft and the material you work with. In 1993, the apprenticeship was complete, and I went on to work as Fine Carpenter and Cabinet Maker in Germany. Later in the 1990s I spent 3 years in Amsterdam on a large restoration project of historic channel houses from 1658. During the project I learned how to repair old and especially rotten wood, and in the following years I profited a lot of it.

In 2004, I was called to the Spanish island of Mallorca by one of my German customers to restore the woodwork of his traditional finca. Mallorca is one of Europe's most beloved vacation destinations and many British, but mostly Germans keeping vacation houses. So I spent my last 10 years in Europe living and working for the large German and British community on this Mediterranean island.

It was Marc Twain who gave the advice: "Go away from home for 20 years and then go back". And, after 24 years, I decided that it is time to return home to Kentucky. I opened a fine carpentry workshop in Louisville's Germantown Neighborhood where I worked for 10 years. This year, I decided that it's time for a change again, and semi-retired to Rochester, NY, where a good friend offers me to use co-space in his workshop.