Site
karpintero.me is the intersection of two passions, woodworking and programming. This site functions as a blog, a collection of notes to myself, and a means to share some of the things I've built. Having benefited immensely from the teachings and musings shared by others (both on and offline), my hope is that some of what is written here will be of interest or use to someone else.
This blog will mainly focus my experiences with various aspects of woodworking. However, be apprised, some digressions into (gasp!) non-woodworking topics may occassionally appear. You have been forewarned...
For those interested in the tech side, this blog was created using RedwoodJS , an elegant and modern JavaScript framework that combines React, GraphQL, Prisma, and a variety of other useful tools.
Author
Mychal Estalilla is a software engineer by day and an amateur woodworker when time permits, after having previously spent 8 years in corporate finance. A perpetual collector of hobbies, he is glad to have found woodworking, rich with history and tradition. Since much of modern life happens in front of a screen (voluntary or not), woodworking has ostensibly become a natural counterbalance, tactile and tangible in an increasingly abstract world.
Like many others, his first foray into woodworking was driven by a need to build something that he couldn't readily buy (in this case it was a keyboard case). Since then, he has immersed himself in several facets of woodworking, such as hand tools, joinery, machinery, marquetry, Japanese woodworking, and CNC.
While not having been formally trained in the trade, he learned the foundations of woodworking at The Wood Work Shop in Southern California under Dennis Yuan. He has also been fortunate enough to have taken a variety of project-based classes with truly world class instructors. He builds furniture mainly for personal use and friends/family.
Bench Dog
Beret (pronounced bear-et) is my trusty bench dog (but not the kind that holds workpieces). She is frequently found sawing metaphorical logs (i.e. sleeping and sometimes snoring) underneath my bench, and when she's awake, supervising my joinery.
She is a loyal companion but rather feisty towards strangers of all species (especially the kind that delivers packages), which is fine since it's usually just the two of us in the workshop. When she gets bored of watching me woodwork or my choice of music, she'll head into the house in search of more lively entertainment or treats.
Thankfully she hasn't chewed up any of my projects or equipment...yet. In return, she gets frequent pats, scratches, and belly rubs.
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