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Demonstrator Spotlight: Chris Schoenberg
Owner of Third Coast Craftsman and Co-Founder of Temple Tools Co.
Woodworking is more than just a skill or career: it’s a blend of many things–hard work, patience, and passion. This is the third edition of our Demonstrator Spotlight segment that we’re posting ahead of our annual shows: Johnson’s Wood Expo (Charlotte, MI) and Johnson’s Woodworking Showcase (South Bend, IN) – both taking place in September.
We have been interviewing demonstrators and getting the inside scoop on how they got started in woodworking. This edition focuses on Chris Schoenberg, who’s based in Portland, MI. He creates pieces through his brand, Third Coast Craftsman, having been introduced to woodworking by his grandfather during his childhood. He shared what interests him about the trade, the value of books when learning new skills, and his preference for using hand tools.
Q&A with Chris Schoenberg
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into woodworking?
A: Schoenberg was introduced to woodworking by his grandpa, who was a carpenter and had a workshop at his house. “He’s been a major influence on my entire woodworking journey.” During the summers growing up, Schoenberg would often spend a week with his grandpa and help him with his projects. As Schoenberg got older, particularly in high school, he would help his grandpa, who was retired by then, do handyman jobs. “I would help him build decks, do projects at houses, and build things in his workshop,” says Schoenberg, “I fell in love with building things, not only woodworking, but construction too.”
Schoenberg joined the Air Force after high school and spent four years in North Dakota. When he returned home, he got back into woodworking and helped his grandpa with projects again. “I love my grandpa and looked up to him, so it was a great opportunity to get to spend time with and learn from him,” says Schoenberg.
When his grandpa passed, his woodworking tools were sold off at an estate sale. “I didn’t get anything, aside from a hand plane and a couple of clamps,” recalled Schoenberg, “I no longer had my grandpa, and I no longer had use of a shop, so I had to go on my own woodworking journey.” Receiving his grandpa’s hand plane sparked an interest in hand tools and hand-cut joinery.
Schoenberg began learning about traditional woodworking, tools, and joinery. He bought second-hand hand tools and fell in love with woodworking, especially cutting joinery by hand and designing furniture. He started his YouTube channel with the intent of sharing his projects and filling in gaps of information on certain woodworking techniques he couldn’t find. He thought posting videos would be much simpler than it was and quickly found out how difficult it was to get views and grow on YouTube. Despite challenges in the beginning, he continued posting and began gaining momentum. His channel grew, people started following, and brands began reaching out to inquire about sponsorship deals. This newfound success allowed Schoenberg to eventually quit his job and take on YouTubing and woodworking full-time; he has been doing so for the last eight years.
Q: What was the first project you ever worked on?
A: One of Schoneberg’s first projects was in middle school; he made a fishing pole holder with his grandpa. He was starting to take a liking to fishing and saw a design at a fishing store that he wanted to try. Built in 1999, he still uses the holder today.
Q: Where do you draw a lot of your inspiration for the work that you do?
A: Schoenberg draws inspiration from people he sees online and on Instagram. A lot of his woodworking project designs are heavily influenced by Japanese temples and Japanese woodworking. He likes their form of woodworking and the way they approach it.
He is particularly fond of the Japanese American woodworker, George Nakashima, whose designs incorporate the blend of natural live-edge wood (like his iconic furniture piece, the Minguren Table) and purposeful lines with modern style (like his Conoid Chair). “He designed pieces around World War II, before live-edge river tables were popular,” says Schoenberg, “After World War II is when he was making all this cool furniture, so I’m definitely inspired by his work.”
Q: Do you have a favorite wood that you like to work with?
A: Cherry and walnut, due to the characteristics of the wood and their ease of working with. They’re softer woods with tighter grains. “I would say cherry is my number one favorite to work with, followed by a tie between walnut and white oak,” adds Schoenberg. Cherry wood is known for having a fine, uniform grain, which allows it to cut cleanly with minimal tear-out. It is also easy to sand, becoming smooth with less effort than other hardwoods. These factors make it ideal for precision joinery and fine furniture.
Q: What’s been your most challenging project so far?
A: Schoenberg’s most challenging project is one of his most recent. A console table, which draws on Japanese influence, with upswept breadboard ends, is likened to that of a Torri. The table boards slide into a hand-cut groove on each breadboard, and are further held together using bowtie joints. The table legs and lower shelf are all hand-jointed in as well. He calls it a temple table. “There are sliding dovetails, wedge mortise and tenon, regular mortise and tenon, breadboard ends, bowties, and all sorts of things going on,” says Schoenberg, “It was very challenging and took a lot of hours, but that’s a really beautiful project that I’m very proud of.”
He also added that his house has been one gigantic, challenging project. He’s been documenting his home build in a YouTube series, Timber Frame House, which currently has 11 episodes. His channel, Third Coast Craftsman, showcases the traditional craftsmanship and meticulous joinery that define his woodworking philosophy. The series emphasizes the aesthetic and architectural elegance of timber framing—the beautiful way of constructing a home using traditional joinery and exposed wood structure. Viewers are treated to scenes of precision carving, cutting, and fitting of massive timbers—showcasing his skill in hand tools and his dedication to doing things the right (and often harder) way.
Q: What is your thought process from coming up with an idea and conceptualizing it to creating it and turning it into the finished piece?
A: The name of the game for Schoenberg is “old school!” He designs everything with a pencil and graph paper, specifically the Vertas graphing sketch pads. “I like them, because instead of lines, they have a series of dots. So every square, which is about a quarter inch, has four dots,” says Schoenberg. “I use that for both scale, and I’ll usually, depending on how wide I can fit my design on that sheet of paper, each little square might be an inch or 6 inches or a foot if I’m working on a house. That way, I can sketch to scale and get my proportions right.”
He designs the overall look and appearance of the piece, and then refines it. He admits that he’s not very good at drawing at a 3-D angle, so he typically draws face-on from the sides or the top. He then has to visualize the design in 3-D and hope that it works in all proportions. He said that after he finishes a project, there are often things that he wishes he had done differently, but that it’s one of the fun parts of learning and drawing by hand.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who’s just starting woodworking?
A: Schoenberg’s biggest piece of advice is to read books on woodworking. With so many people posting videos on social media, like YouTube and Instagram, there is a lot of misinformation online. “I’m guilty of it as well; I have put information out there that I thought was correct, and then years later, I learn that it wasn’t the proper thing to be sharing with people,” Schoengerg admits. Books are often peer-reviewed and edited by publishers to ensure the information the author is writing is accurate.
He recommends that people read books as their primary source and then, after obtaining a baseline of knowledge, supplement with videos. “Some people like learning through videos and seeing a video, but books and even magazine articles have great illustrations that you can look at, understand, and dissect,” explains Schoenberg. “Whereas videos can sometimes rush through things, and like I said, they’re just not as properly vetted for accuracy; anyone in the world can put a video out there, and you can learn the wrong things that way.”
Q: Is there anything that you hope people at EXPO will take away from your demonstration?
A: Schoenberg hopes that people at EXPO will learn the value of using hand tools. He believes that people often scoff at the use of hand tools in the world of power tools. Despite this, he says that there are many instances where, if you’re proficient with hand tools, it’s much faster and more efficient than using power tools. “You don’t have to set up jigs. Especially since most of us are custom furniture makers or hobbyists who are building a one-off project. We’re not batching out 20 or 30 of the same components, so setting up a jig and all that kind of stuff is way more time-consuming in many cases than grabbing a hand saw, chisel, or plane and doing a task,” says Schoenberg. He believes it makes woodworking more enjoyable, rewarding, safer, and less noisy. “I hope people get inspired, and I can hopefully demystify the use of some hand tools and maybe reduce some intimidation for people,” he adds.
Q: What is your favorite part about attending EXPO?
A: Schoenberg’s favorite pastime is talking to other woodworkers who share the same passion as he does. “As someone who has been there in years past and instructed people, I enjoy that part of the whole experience; teaching people and inspiring people the best I can,” says Schoenberg. He looks forward to any opportunity, whether it’s through his videos or at events like EXPO, to meet people and get them excited about using hand tools.
This year at EXPO Schoenberg, in support of his tool brand Temple Tool Co., will have a booth in our vendor tent. Drop by and learn more about the collection of Japanese hand saws, chisels, and marking knives. He will also be giving an hour-long demonstration in the main tent on Friday.
Chris Schoenberg has a clear passion for woodworking and keeping the art of doing things by hand, from using hand tools to sketching designs for pieces. You can follow along with his content under the handle @thirdcoastcraftsman on social media.
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