“After I graduated college, strangely, that’s when I wanted to choose a career path. You’re supposed to choose it BEFORE you go to college, right?,” says Tyler Morris in amusement when talking about how he came to be a professional woodworker.

“It all began when I had a summer job working for the Forest Service, and they had a little woodshop in the basement,” he says. Tyler was 22-years-old and working on his degree in Wood Science at Colorado State. The job required him to live at a remote post in the Colorado mountains, and he had plenty of free-time at night and on weekends.

“I began messing around in that basement woodshop and started to enjoy it,” says Tyler. After that, his relationship with wood began to change.

After graduation he decided he wanted to pursue woodworking as a profession. While Tyler didn’t learn anything about woodworking in his wood science classes, he was schooled in the anatomy of wood and identifying different woods. 

Once he made his career decision, Tyler soon began working for a woodworking company. “I really took that job seriously. I worked really hard at it, and I became like the right-hand man rather quickly,” he says. He received most of his training in woodworking on the job, plus learned a lot on his own.

“After a couple of years working there, I decided I could do this on my own,” says Tyler. He eased into business slowly in the summer of 1997, making custom pieces for friends and family, while also doing carpentry work for a local builder.  Tyler’s custom woodworking business began to grow, and he credits Sears Trostel in helping the business make the leap forward. “I wouldn’t be in business if it wasn’t for Sears Trostel,” Tyler says. “Back then I was getting a lot of jobs through Sears Trostel.”  Tyler had established a relationship at ST over the years, and had proven himself a reliable resource for referring ST customers who were wanting custom pieces. Today, you’ll still run into Tyler at the Riverside location, hand-picking his hardwoods and plywoods — but no longer for custom projects.
In 1998, Tyler hired his own right-hand man, Steve Wright, and they’ve grown the business from a custom woodworking business, into a primarily production-work shop. With the advent of e-commerce, in 2002 TylerMorrisWoodworking.com went online, selling their signature corbels, recipe boxes and trays — and started serving the needs of many, rather than a few. Today you’ll also find TMW wares on Etsy.com and Amazon.com.
>> Check-out the Tyler Morris Woodworking Etsy shop

>> Find TMW products on Amazon

Soon after going online, Tyler’s first corporate client came on-board. Rhinebeck Animal Hospital, in Tyler’s hometown of Rhinebeck, NY, placed an order for custom Baltic birch wood urns to hold the ashes of cremated pets. The animal hospital continues to order the urns today, and TMW has shipped 1000s of pieces to NY since 2003.
Now, approximately ten corporate clients keep the Tyler Morris Woodworking shop hopping with regular orders — from things like urns, to scraper sticks, to branded cutting boards engraved with both New Belgium Brewery and TMW logos. 

“They just keep coming back,” says Tyler. And he’s very happy with that.

If you see a staircase rising in your future, or if you would like to know the nuances of stair construction, then Jet Manalo is our go-to guy for all things relating to stairs.

"I can talk about stairs all day if you want," says Jet with a smile. With nearly 15 years experience helping people design and build stairs prior to his arrival at Sears Trostel in 2007, he knows his stuff. "I can help with all the details that go into the process -- from the transition to make from flooring, to the staircase itself -- every piece."

While Jet knows a thing or two about stairs, we're pretty lucky to have his extensive construction background for all of our customers to tap into. His first job at 14-years-old was as an electrician's apprentice. He later went on to study and work in solar retrofit technology, which required him to drill through roofs and make his way through each floor to the basement, familiarizing himself with all the nooks and crannies of building construction. He even studied physics for awhile at Colorado State before deciding that construction was really his preferred path. Here at Sears Trostel Jet likes to find out what customers are up to, and the projects they are undertaking. "I'm curious. I like to talk about building things and getting their projects done," he says. "I actually find some satisfaction in just making sure they get it done! It's kind of my way of living vicariously through them," he laughs.

Off the job, Jet enjoys building things with his 10-year-old son, Jonas. Specifically -- building with LEGOS. The two of them have been involved with FIRST LEGO League for several years, and Jet coached his neighborhood's FIRST LEGO League team for two years. Teams compete in creating robots with LEGOS, and program them to do specific things.

"FIRST LEGO League is like the new Cub Scouts," says Jet. "Though, it's all about science, technology, engineering and math. LEGOS have come a long way."

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Would you like to know more about FIRST LEGO League?
FIRST® LEGO® League introduces young people, ages 9 to 14* (grades 4-8), to the fun and excitement of science and technology.

Teams, composed of up to ten children with at least two (2) screened Lead Coaches, can also be associated with a pre-existing club or organization, homeschooled, or just be a group of friends who wish to do something awesome.

In FIRST LEGO League, the children do the work; like program an autonomous robot (using the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robot set) to score points on a thematic playing surface, create innovative solutions to a problem, all while being guided by the FLL Core Values. These three elements - the Robot Game, Project, and FLL Core Values - make up what we call our yearly Challenge. Teams also fundraise, create a team identity, and talk to experts in the field.

With over 25,000+ teams in approximately 80 countries, FLL is constantly expanding.

Talent abounds in our woodworking community here at Sears Trostel! We had a great turnout for our 12th Annual Woodworking Show, Sale and Competition last week, February 19-21 -- with just over 60 entries.

With so many beautiful projects, it was a challenge for our judges to pick the winners. Longtime Sears Trostel customers and expert woodworkers, Allen Jensen and Chad Wierema, evaluated the pieces on creativity, workmanship and finish. Here are the ones considered to be the cream of the crop -- even though we consider them all winners!

Chances are that if you come to Sears Trostel with a question regarding construction, woodturning or furniture building, Aaron Jensen (a.k.a. AJ) will have a good answer. 

Relatively new to the Sears Trostel team, he and his family's home construction business were customers of Sears Trostel for 15 years prior to his coming aboard. 

Growing up in his family's business of custom home building -- where few steps of a home project were done by sub-contractors -- he learned most every trade from the foundation up. Home design. Framing. Building. Drywalling. Insulation. Siding. Roofing. Electrical. Cabinetry.

All this, along with an associates degree in Architectural Drafting, make him a very knowledgeable guy. 

"I try to make sure I get equipment or materials for the customer that will do the task the best. Whether it's the lumber, the tools, the fasteners, the hinges, the hardware, the finishes," says AJ. "My personal ethic that I grew up with is 'make sure you have the quality from start to finish,' because if you don't, the project is not worth doing." 

As part of the home building process, AJ's father taught him and his brothers how to build cabinets. And outside of work, he taught them how to build other furniture, as well. AJ continues to create furniture pieces as there is a functional need. An armoire and bookshelves are his current projects.

In addition to the woodworking instruction his father provided, AJ took shop class through all four years of high school. It was his shop teacher that inspired his interest in woodturning.  With his teacher's encouragement, and getting involved in the Rocky Mountain Woodturners Club in Fort Collins, his expertise has grown...and he finds it a soothing and relaxing art. He enjoys turning bowls, vessels and sculptural pieces, with a particular affinity for turning pens. His collection of beautiful pens continues to grow -- made of both wood and acrylic.
AJ says with a laugh, "I hate to say 'it's a Zen thing' but it's pretty close to that." 

>> Check out Aaron's pens & projects