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Plank Canvas Carpentry, Philomath, OR (2026)

10/29/2025

After doing this carpentry thing for a while, you realize that everything is a box. Some jobs need the same kind of box. Some carpenters would try to build the same box twice, but I would argue that this is a mistake.

You see, the primary role of a carpenter is to understand that the material they are using is not uniform or homogeneous. It is organic and sculptural. This is the reason it requires skill to work wood into usable shapes. As such, I believe it is a carpenter's duty to treat every individual box as a dialogue between three parties: the task at hand, the aesthetic desired, and the materials in use.

The secondary role of a carpenter is that of a negotiator and a truly skilled one will resolve this dialogue in a tangible solution that satisfies all three parties. The result should be a box that fulfills its task, looks the way the customer intended, and employs the properties of the wood to enhance both. As such, every box a carpenter builds should be inherently unique. Two boxes may appear and function in the same way, but I guarantee you that if a carpenter has done their job properly each box they build is a distinct work of art.

10/25/2025

Here's another piece that has a very special place in my heart.

These shelves were built for a dear friend as a part of an art trade we'd worked out. I wanted a set of bowls for my cats' food and water and she needed a place to display her collection of crystals.

The design process was almost more mathematical than it was artistic, as it's proportions were determined by the "Golden Ratio"; the long legs of the triangle are 1.618 times as long as its base and the shelves within follow this same rule. The intent of this design was to explore the reoccurring patterns we encounter in nature and express the way we appreciate the world through observation and mimicry. The shelves adhere to a strict pattern because the objects to be displayed on them do as well.

These shelves are a small segment of a fractal, almost crystalline, and were meant to showcase a collection of mineral specimens that each have distinct and spiritual meanings to their owner. They are meant to simultaneously stand out and disappear while doing their job.

That principle, to dissolve into a purposeful existence, is one I strive to embody and carry into each project I undertake.

10/24/2025

When one of my oldest friends told me he was getting married, I was absolutely thrilled for him. When he asked me to be his best man, I was giddy with excitement for me. When he asked if I would build the arbor for the wedding ceremony, I'll be honest, I was a little intimidated. I wasn't intimidated because I felt the project was outside of my abilities as a carpenter, but I wasn't sure how I could imbue the kind of spirit and meaning into a piece that this project demanded.

My first inclination was to achieve a sense of meaning through complexity and I began feverishly scribbling out complicated designs of interlocking joints with almost nonsensical geometry. At one point I sent one of these sketches to my friend and he responded, "I have no idea what Im looking at, but I trust that you do!". This was a breakthrough moment. Not in the typical sense when you find that you've finally found a solution or are at least going in the right direction, no, what I had just been shown that I was going about this all wrong.

At this juncture, I had the better part of a year left to complete the arbor so I decided to let it marinate in the back of my mind in hopes that something would come to me soon. It didn't. It had gotten to be 10 days before the ceremony and the only measure of progress I could show were a few pieces of the basic structure I had milled to rough dimensions. It was too late to spend time "designing" an arbor. It was time to build one. At this point my only choice was to lock myself in the woodshop until the arbor was either done or my friend stopped looking for me to kick my ass for ruining his wedding.

Over the course of those next 10 days, I tapped into some kind of carpenter's intuition. Pieces of wood seemed to almost find their home in the arbor by themselves. I may as well just've been there to operate the saw. As the arbor took shape, my anxiety faded away. It came together in its completed form the day before the wedding and as it did, I knew I had achieved its goal. It was beautiful. It was striking. It was sturdy and it had spirit.

To this day it remains my most meaningful project and I don't anticipate that title being taken any time soon.

10/22/2025

In the world of carpentry, it seems there is a consensus on the joy found in making tool handles. I think it's got something to do with the rewarding nature of making something that makes something. After the handle is finished, a tool is ready to go out and fulfill its intended purpose and there is an undeniable joy in being useful.

As far as handle making goes, the classic example is an axe. My preference is kitchen knives. A well taken care of knife will outlast its user, which means the interface between user and tool — the handle — will go on to influence the perception of its quality for years to come.

Beyond holding a knife, the aesthetic appeal of wood and metal is fantastic and presents a wonderful opportunity to use woods with exotic grain patterns and fasteners that give contrast to the tones in them. For the customer, this leads to almost endless possibilities for personalization. For me, I get the chance to spend thoughtful time with the collection of small pieces of rare and exciting species of wood I've amassed over the years. For everybody else, well, you all just get to enjoy looking at something beautiful.

10/22/2025

One of my products that is very near and dear to my heart is chopsticks.

Originally, they were an item I would scrounge up whenever I had forgotten to bring a utensil to use for lunch on job sites. These first editions were clunky and inelegant. I don't have any pictures of them because they were discarded immediately after use.

Soon after, they became an avenue to make use of scraps of exotic woods that would otherwise go to waste. When processing pieces of hardwood flooring into more generally usable lumber, narrow strips called a tongue and groove are sawn off the edges. These strips fed my chopstick stock for years.

Eventually the chopsticks became a sort of craft-based currency. I'd make sets to give away as gifts, or to trade in exchange for other people's art, but they were never to be sold.

Recently they've become an excuse to explore creative forms of packaging. After all, at its core carpentry is really just about building boxes in various shapes and configurations.

I still won't sell you chopsticks, but I'll include sets with orders upon request and I'll still trade for something you've made!

10/22/2025

It's actually pretty rare that I build things for myself, so when I do I end up getting pretty attached to them. Based on the state I found it in, I would assume this mailbox had lived a long hard life before it's time with me but from here on out, it'll be going with me wherever live.

10/21/2025

One of the areas I specialize in is trim work. I enjoy windows and doors the best because people tend develop rather intimate relationships with them over time, so when I was approached to trim out 12 skylights in a customer's gorgeous A-frame house I immediately said yes.

The opportunity was not without its challenges, however. One in particular: being an A-frame, the walls of the house ARE the roof and are insulated as such. This meant that the window jambs were more than 16in deep in some places and the customer wanted to use old growth fir, which comes at a significant premium at those sizes.

In order to make obtaining such a large quantity of this material more financially feasible for the customer, I opted to make use of a grade of fir that is normally passed over due to visual "defects" such as knots or sap pockets that I personally feel give the wood a unique charm. Even so, the widths of boards I would need for some of the jambs simply do not exist without having material custom milled which meant I would be making panels out of narrower boards to suit my needs. The carpentry involved in this process is not especially difficult, but the work of selecting material and matching boards to one another to best hide the seams in panels requires an extreme level of attention to detail. This is why the customer chose me to tackle their project.

After the material was sourced, selected, sawn, and sanded to highlight its character the work of assembling and applying finish began. Let me tell you, sawdust is one kind of mess but glue and boiled linseed oil is another. In total, the trim package consisted of 96 pieces -- 120 if you consider that half of the jambs were panels made up of 2 boards. With each board getting 3 coats of oil and 3 days minimum of drying time between each coat this meant I was in for... a lot of long nights. After many hours of wiping and buffing, the trim package was ready for install.

In the end, this project stands as one of the favorites I have ever taken on and both the customer and myself are thoroughly satisfied by the finished product.

10/18/2025

Hey there! I'm Lukas, the wizard behind the curtain here at Plank Canvas Carpentry. My job is to bring your imagination to life—plain and simple.

I've spent just about as long as I can remember building things in my free time, and for the better part of the last decade, I’ve been using the skills I’ve gathered along the way to solve problems for people. Over that time, I’ve realized that my favorite kinds of problems are those whose solutions involve creating designs that fulfill a customer’s functional goals while also realizing their aesthetic vision—without making concessions in either category. As such, I’ve decided it’s finally time to focus exclusively on solving this kind of problem.

That’s where you come in. Your job is simply to pay attention and draw inspiration from the world around you, so I can translate that inspiration into a beautiful object that fills an empty niche in your life.

By working collaboratively, I hope my customers find a deep connection with their piece and recognize that their role in its creation is just as significant as mine. Making sawdust is pretty simple. Having a creative vision is more complicated. Bringing one to life—that’s a kind of magic.

Plank Canvas Carpentry

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