001 Why I Build Things

Welcome to the Zehr Wood Artistry Podcast.

My name is Brad Zehr, and this first episode is called Why I Build Things.

I honestly cannot remember a time when I was not interested in making something. One of my earliest woodworking memories goes all the way back to when I was very young. I took a handsaw and a piece of white pine board and decided I was going to cut out a Christmas tree shape for my mother.

I remember struggling to hold the board down while trying to saw at the same time. Looking back, I am thankful it was white pine, because even that was a challenge. When I showed it to my mother, her first reaction was not just about the little tree. She wanted to know how I knew how to use the saw, and whether I had cut myself.

The honest answer was: almost.

But that little project says a lot about something that has followed me my whole life. I liked the idea that I could take a simple piece of wood and turn it into something. It did not have to be perfect. It just had to become something that did not exist before.

A Family Connection to Wood

Woodworking also runs deep in my family history. My grandfather did a lot of woodworking, and he also had a farm and a sawmill. I did not fully understand it at the time, but the connection between the forest, the farm, the sawmill, and the finished piece of wood was already part of the world around me.

I remember being with him in the barn when I was still too young to do much real work. We were sitting on some bales of hay when he asked me a simple question:

"What are you going to be when you grow up?"

I told him, "A chemist or an artist."

I have no idea why chemistry came to mind at that age, but looking back, it is interesting because both answers turned out to matter. Chemistry is about understanding materials, reactions, structure, and change. Art is about seeing possibility, beauty, and expression. Woodworking, in many ways, is both.

Wood has structure. It has grain, color, density, moisture, movement, and character. But it also has beauty, emotion, history, and design. A board is never just a board. It came from a tree, from a place, from years of growth, weather, stress, and time.

Learning the Family Technique

I never had the chance to learn woodworking directly from my grandfather. I was very young when he passed. But the influence remained, and many years later another important moment happened.

My grandfather's stepbrother shared the family woodworking techniques with me. These were not just ordinary shop tips. They were the kind of methods that had been developed, protected, rediscovered, and passed along through experience.

After that visit, I went home inspired. The very next week, I made a piece to practice what I had learned. It was not just a project. It was a way of connecting to something older than myself.

That moment helped shape the direction of what would eventually become Zehr Wood Artistry.

Building More Than Objects

Over the years, I have built many different things. Some were small. Some were large. Some were made from wood. Some were made from stone, code, photographs, or ideas.

I built Zehr Escape, our home. I did the work myself, though I did hire a young helper for about a month, mostly on weekends. I promised him he would learn a lot, and he did. Years later, he went on to build his own house.

At one point, I was going to take too long getting the electric hooked up, so I did the framing, roof, and interior walls with a handsaw. That was a workout. But it also fit the way I have always approached projects: keep going, solve the problem, and do the work as well as you can.

That house was built strong. I did not cut corners. The exterior walls were plywood. The roof was plywood. The siding was tongue and groove. Much of that strength is hidden now, but I know it is there.

That matters to me.

Because building is not just about what people see. It is also about what you know you did right when no one else is looking.

Why I Build

So why do I build things?

I build because I enjoy the process.

I build because wood has a story.

I build because a well-made object can last longer than the person who made it.

I build because there is something deeply satisfying about taking raw material and shaping it into something useful, beautiful, or meaningful.

And maybe most of all, I build because I always have.

From a small white pine Christmas tree cut with a handsaw, to furniture, homes, historic restoration, sawmill work, and handcrafted wood pieces, the same idea has been there all along:

Start with what you have. Respect the material. Do the work. Create something real.

Closing Thought

Every builder starts somewhere.

Sometimes it begins with a perfect shop, fine tools, and years of training.

And sometimes it begins with a young boy, a handsaw, a scrap of white pine, and a Christmas tree made for his mother.

Either way, the important thing is to begin.

Thanks for listening to the Zehr Wood Artistry Podcast.

Until next time, take a little time to build something. It does not have to be perfect. It just has to be yours.