What's in a name?

One of the things we get asked the most (right after "Where do you get your wood?") is "Where did you get your name from?"  If you've followed us for awhile, you may know the answer to this.  If you are new here, let me tell you a little story about my dad. 

My dad was a story teller.  He loved to tell a good joke, or share an obscure piece of knowledge that sounded so outlandish you were positive he was making it up. However, it was totally true and part of what made him such a good story teller was how smart he was. He had a life long dream of becoming a published author and was always reading, learning and researching new things for the novels he was working on.   

As a child he would take me on Father-Daughter camp outs.  While the other dad's did the cooking and the beer drinking, my dad was the story teller.  He was the dad that stood around the campfire late at night weaving magical tales out of his imagination, sometimes combining historical facts from things he'd read, or just pulling from his life experiences (to this day, part of me still believes that Moatengators are real).  

But back to our name.  That's why you're here after all.  The answer is, our name comes from my dad.  KnotHead was the name of one of the characters he made up in the stories he told me.  We always talked about him writing them down, and me illustrating them, but we never did.  To be honest, this is one of my biggest regrets.  

After he passed away in 2014 he left behind an entire workshop full of woodworking equipment.  Along with writing and photography, wood working was one of his favorite pastimes.  We used to refer to it as "making little pieces of wood out of big pieces of wood." 

Jeff had always been into sculpture, and one of the things him and my dad had in common was their mutual love (and respect) for power tools.  Prior to our move from Texas he got a degree (one of many) in Sculpture and Metalsmithing and worked as a set builder.  When we uprooted and moved to Tennessee to be with my mom, he decided to honor my dad and name the business after him.  We wouldn't have the workshop and equipment if it weren't for him (and my mom, our roomie and that lady you see in our booth- but that's another blog post), and we both felt it was fitting to name it after one of my favorite memories.  

So there you have it.  It's not a wild and crazy story.  Just a tribute to a wonderful man who is very much missed.