Creative Woodworking Nw

I took 175 board feet — a pile ten feet long, a foot wide and about 18 inches high — of rough-​sawn walnut to Creative Woodworking to have planed and surfaced. They have the heavy duty machines to do it quickly.
Their employees run the machines. You can drop the whole project off or you can work with them shuttling the wood between one end of the machine and the other. They use old sturdy wheeled medical gurneys to do that — smart! If you are going to be in the shop, bring safety glasses and hearing protection, plus some work gloves. I worked with them to make decisions for each board to get the most usable wood from it. Their employees are extremely efficient — they know the capability of the machines. They deliver their sawdust to local farmers.
With great availability of large slabs here, their 50 inch wide planer sees a lot of use. It has a cutting head first in line, then an 80 grit sander, then a 120 grit sander. That saves you a lot of work completing the sanding on your project.
That machines is also useful if you join and glue a table top and you want it flat and the same thickness end to end.
No wood you bring can be painted. And no wood with even the remote possibility of any metal, a nail, screw or bullet. Period, no exceptions. I had none, but they were inspecting my wood carefully, as they should! There is $ 250 fee for running into metal in the wood and ruining their equipment. Frankly that’s fair!
They have 14 inch capacity resawing machine that is more precise and powerful than most shops.
Their list of services is on their website.
Their hourly rate is very, very reasonable given their expertise, their quick work and the speed of their professional machines. Everyone I encountered there over several visits from the office staff, the wood workers and the owner have been relaxed and helpful — very customer oriented, which can be unusual for an industrial service.
They know everyone in town and are a great source of information. For instance they volunteered to print a copy for us of their slab resources page of quite a few businesses they have worked with.
Creative Woodworking is the next level of specialized wood craft resource which can supplement your own shop or a shared shop you are using, like ADX, at a great price and with skilled professional staff.
They also usually have a great supply of free kindling wood outside in long pieces.

I bought some paduak for an end table I wanted to make. After gluing the pieces and biscuit jointed them together in my unheated garage. Needless to say, it came out terrible, and not wanting to waste wood I spent $ 100, I went to Creative Woodworking NW.
The owner, Mike, was super friendly. He told me what I did wrong and said he could build the end table according to my specifications. I asked him if I could watch him on a Saturday, and he said yes! As a novice woodworker, it was incredible to meet someone with tons of knowledge and experience who is willing to share his knowledge. I spent several hours absorbing information from him and he even allowed me to practice a bit! He was very diligent about my project and did not waste one minute while working on it.
Another impressive thing is the sheer size and access to material he has. The sliding table saw he has is amazing, and the man has more wood clamps than all the stores in the metro area combined. After helping me mitre cut the edges, and glue up the box, he suggested that I sand it up to 1000 grit to get the most texture out of the wood. Amazing advice! My piece looks professionally done and has exquisite character.
Perhaps the best thing was how willing he was to teach me the trade. In this day and age it’s rare for people to take you under their wing, and allow someone they just met to spend a good chunk of time teaching you, while helping you build your project. He is a man who believes in quality, and truly loves the art of woodworking.

Super knowledgeable and friendly staff. A great selection of large machinery makes whatever woodworking task you have in mind a breeze. Staff is conscious of the fee you are paying per hour and work quickly and efficiently. I love this place. My only complaint is that I can’t take the belt sander home with me…

These guys are awesome at what they do. Great service at a reasonable price. Superior customer service every time!