Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Wood Work: Crafting a Living, Building a Life

Wood Work: Crafting a Living, Building a Life

Smith, Stephen A.

Paperback

Biographies GeneralBusiness GeneralGeneral Wookworking

Publisher Price: $18.95

PREORDER - Expected ship date December 1, 2026

ISBN10: 1939017882
ISBN13: 9781939017888
Publisher: Islandport Press
Published: Dec 1 2026
Pages: 200
Language: English
A moving and lyrical memoir about Maine, woodworking, and the life-affirming joy of working with one's hands.--Tess Gerritsen, New York Times-bestselling author of The Spy Coast


What happens when you walk away from security to build a life with your hands?

In January 2019, former white-collar professional Steve Smith stepped into the snowy Maine woods with a simple, risky goal: to see if he could make a living using nothing but an axe.

With no formal training and no safety net, Smith began hand-hewing logs into timber beams, learning a heritage craft once essential to survival and now nearly forgotten. What began as an experiment became six years of punishing labor, financial uncertainty, and personal transformation as he built a thriving timber business--and discovered a different measure of success.

Structured around the turning seasons of the Maine woods, Wood Work traces Smith's physical and philosophical journey away from corporate life and toward a livelihood rooted in craft, land, and community. Drawing on his upbringing in a religious cult and a lifelong search for meaningful work, he reflects on what is lost when modern life separates us from making--and what can still be reclaimed.

Clear-eyed, humble, and deeply reflective, Wood Work is a meditation on purpose, resilience, and the enduring human need to shape something real with our own hands.

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