About

Who Am Me?

I am Paul Jenkins. I live in the Yarra Valley in Victoria, Australia.

Growing up, I never had an interest in woodwork or any “maker” stuff, always leaning towards IT/programming. About 15 years ago I was diagnosed with New Daily Persistent Headaches – basically a migraine every day.

Those headaches have never left, and it became increasingly difficult to concentrate in a way that programming still made sense, so I turned to something that I could do with my hands. At it turns out, that helped me discover passions I never knew I had.

It might seem counter-intuitive – power tools and migraines – but with two layers of PPE, I can do woodworking at my pace pretty successfully.

The Wood Knight

The Wood Knight started as an educational resource for me. “Self taught woodworker”, taught by YouTube, meant that I had really only seen tools used from certain angles. I already had a video capable camera (Canon EOS 60D), so I thought I’d take a few videos so I could compare it against what I saw on YouTube to get a good idea of my use of power tools (things like stances, techniques for feeding wood through tools, etc.). Eventually I was able to share tips, tricks and projects that others started to enjoy and find value in.

While The Wood Knight still chronicles my journey of learning woodworking, these days the focus has shifted to education around woodworking as well as providing a “local point of view” in the world of woodworking for those who aren’t in America.

The Workshop

I work out of a “standard” two car garage in Melbourne, Australia. The nice thing about standards is there are so many to choose from – what’s standard in my area is tiny or huge in other areas (for a two car garage).

The workshop measures about 6.5m (~21ft) x 5.5m (~18ft), with some unusable built in cupboards and a back roller door that chews up some wall space. However, it isn’t tiny and in this space I’ve created some pretty large projects so I don’t have too much to complain about there!