This is the Sentesy Solid Woodwork shop and the home of David and Susan Sentesy.
Our studio in Drummond Centre village is a turn-of-the-century cheese factory, renovated to serve as house and workshop under one roof. Since we began building furniture, thousands of board feet have passed through our shop. Of these, we collected a dozen wood species from local sources. When we can, we buy materials from farmers, sawyers, and responsible loggers, some of whom still skid with horses. Selective cutting by responsible individuals, as opposed to clear cutting, is the only way we can continue to harvest precious wood.
David teaching his grand daughter Shalom some chisel basics.
We are proud to say we have hickory sawn on the last water-powered sawmill in Ontario, and beautiful butternut wood from trees now infected with a lethal canker that will probably wipe out this species. Although much of my material is kiln dried, I still prefer the traditional air-drying technique. Air-drying yields wood without the fractured cells of kiln drying. This means it provides stronger, more resilient wood. Air-dried wood keeps its natural colour and takes polish beautifully.
Welcome to our workshop. We hope you enjoy our work as much as we do.