This is the home of A. G. Yule & Sons. You might well wonder if Larry really is Al from Tool Time with those initials, but actually it is evolved from a shop that his Grandfather had. Once again we see the respect for family and tradition from a woodworker and the company name is taken in honor of Larry's Grandfather.
In the foreground are a couple of samples of the steam bending that Larry does. Quite a lot of his business involves this process.
To the left you see a roll around storage center filled with clamps of various sizes. Yup, Larry subscribes to the woodworker's mantra "You can never have enough clamps!"

Larry's current shop was built in 1987. It was a big step up from working in his Father's garage which is how he got his start.
Basically, his Dad had a tablesaw and some hand tools. As Larry says "There were enough to cut a couple of fingers off." Obviously, Larry has added a lot of tools and machinery, but he really started out with a Sears table saw and a router. His theory was that when you don't have quite what you need, you figure out a way to work around it with what you do have.
These days, Larry draws his own plans and sketches for a project. He showed us one of his drawings for a piece in progress. Now he even has an Auto Cad program for custom orders.

Just above we see Larry at work at his saw and polishing a newly completed walnut nightstand. The nightstand is one of a pair that Larry posted to the auction. He prefers a handrubbed, varnish or lacquer finish. He says he doesn't like anything heavy. In his words, "You don't buy a Jaguar and send it off to a distresser to make it look heavy!"
Larry's very first project was a table with a marble insert. He built it as a child in his Grandfather's shop and it wasn't a school project. Pretty lofty beginnings for a pint sized woodworker.

On the subject of advice to beginning woodworkers, Larry had a few 'to the point' quotes.
"Just do it!"
"Sometimes a block plane is just as good as a champfer."
"Scotch tape is your friend." and
"Don't forget to duck!"
He faithfully reads Fine Woodworking magazine and feels this is a good magazine for beginners. "I get the most knowledge from that magazine," he told us.
Visiting this shop, you get the feeling that there is always something going on and a sense of humor prevails just to keep everything in perspective. One of the first things you see on entering Larry's shop (although Dave didn't get a picture of it) is a stuffed cartoon-like moose head on one wall and that sort of sets the tone for your visit.

Larry and his wife have a couple of buddies on their place. There he is to the left with one of them. I don't remember if this is the one, but one of them was a rescue operation. It was a 20+ year old horse that someone passed off to them saying it wouldn't last more than a couple of months and the guy just needed a place to be until he died. That was a couple of years ago and the animal has thrived in this atmosphere.
We also met a Great Dane who is the third in a series of them. He was a huge dog, and not getting around like he used to as the result of a stroke, but it was obvious he was still enjoying life. It was explained to us that they don't live long, usually about 7 years, but they both love Great Danes and are willing to take on their care even though it's hard to let them go.