Behind the grain

This is the quiet room in the house — the place for the stories that sit just outside the shop lights. The personal notes, the health updates, the Knotty Dave bio, the business shifts, the website growth, and the reflective pieces that shape the maker. These aren’t wood stories or craft lessons. They’re the life around the work — the grain behind the grain, the part you only see when the tools are silent.

living with cancer

Stories from the harder seasons — honest pieces about pain, recovery, and the shifts that reshape a craftsman’s life.

Shop Rambles
Does Cancer Have a Silver Lining?
Does Cancer Have a Silver Lining?

Some days cancer doesn’t just slow me down — it forces me to face the parts of my life I’m terrified of losing. This is one of those days.

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Cleaning the Shop, Living With Cancer
Cleaning the Shop, Living With Cancer

A shop reset during cancer recovery — clearing clutter, finding strength, and rediscovering the small grounding rituals that keep a woodworker standing. This Ramble explores resilience, healing, and the meaning of a clean slate.

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Recovery Ramble
Recovery Ramble

Recovery slows life down, but it sharpens perspective. This Shop Ramble reflects on rebuilding after surgery, the future of a growing woodworking website, and the beginnings of a gallery that evolves alongside a cancer survivor’s craft — one room, one story, one tool at a time.

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Mini Kitchen
Mini Kitchen

A forgotten Coleman stove, a tailgate kitchen build, and a season of hard news shaped this Ramble. It’s a story about repair, distraction, memory, and the quiet work of staying steady when life shifts — how a small project became a lifeline, and how building kept me moving when the world felt still.

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New Beginnings at Knotty Dave’s
New Beginnings at Knotty Dave’s

At the end of 2025, the old way of working finally gave way to a new direction — a shift in the shop, the business model, and the future of Knotty Dave’s. This Ramble steps back into the moment everything quietly changed and the next chapter began.

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The Shift — Life Doesn’t Wait
The Shift — Life Doesn’t Wait

A cancer diagnosis changes everything — including how you see time, work, and the craft that keeps you standing. This is a story about urgency, resilience, and building what matters now.

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The Quiet Stories

Stories that live at the edges of shop life — softer, slower, and meant for the days when the work teaches something unexpected.

Shop Rambles
Sawdust
Sawdust

A Quiet Story about the first woodworking lesson no one teaches — the smell of sawdust in a dim shop, the memories held in an old radial arm saw, and how those early moments shaped a lifetime of craft.

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Grandpa’s Toolbox
Grandpa’s Toolbox

A Quiet Story about heritage tools, basement shops, and the hand plane passed from Grandpa to father to son — a reminder of why old tools matter, what they carry, and how they shape the craftspeople who inherit them.

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How to Arrive at Perfect
How to Arrive at Perfect

A Quiet Story about tear‑out, stubborn boards, and the moment every woodworker learns that perfection isn’t found in flawless cuts — it’s found in embracing the imperfect work that real wood demands.

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The Power of Lazy
The Power of Lazy

A Quiet Story about the autobody lesson that shaped a lifetime of woodworking — why “lazy” workers often produce the smartest, cleanest, and most reliable work, and how slowing down became one of the most valuable skills in the shop.

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