About the studio
Hi, I’m Terry.
I design and build one-of-a-kind pieces in a Sherwood Park shop. No production line, no team behind the scenes, and no catalogue I’m trying to fill.
For the person who has everything, I create what they don’t.
How it started
Benches, tables, and an excuse to be in the shop.
I started woodworking in 2016, building benches, tables, and whatever else gave me an excuse to spend more time in the shop.
In 2020, I added my first CNC machine, and that completely changed the way I looked at making things.
It wasn’t just another tool. It opened up possibilities I couldn’t tackle with traditional woodworking alone — detailed carving, topographical pieces, complex designs, and projects that pushed me well outside what I had been making before.
I’ve been building on that ever since.
The shop today
What I’m able to make keeps growing.
I continually reinvest in my shop, my equipment, and what I know how to do. Not because I need more toys — although I’m certainly not complaining — but because every new capability gives me another way to solve a problem or bring an idea to life.
CNC machining
The tool that changed everything in 2020, and the one I’ve kept investing in since. Automatic tool changing and newer equipment have widened what a single piece can involve.
Laser work
A more recent addition. It gives me more options for engraving, fine detail and personalization alongside traditional woodworking and CNC machining.
Beyond wood
Hardwoods are still where most work starts. Resin, metal, aluminum and concrete join them when a design asks for something wood can’t do on its own.
Why I keep changing it
I’m nowhere near finished learning.
I don’t want to spend the next twenty years making the same thing I’ve already figured out how to make.
I want the next project to teach me something, challenge me, or give me a reason to try something I haven’t done before. That’s a big part of what Stain & Steel is about for me.
Upgrading the shop isn’t about having the newest equipment. It’s about learning what that equipment allows me to do, and having more options when an interesting project comes along.
There’s still plenty I haven’t tried and plenty I don’t know.
That’s part of what keeps this interesting.
How I work
You’re talking to the person building it.
Everything is designed and made by me in my Sherwood Park shop. There isn’t a production line or a team behind the scenes.
When you contact Stain & Steel with an idea, you’re talking to the same person who’s going to design it, figure out how to build it, and make it — from the first conversation through machining, sanding, finishing and the final details.
I like it that way. It gives me the chance to understand the story behind a piece, and to learn something from the projects that come through the shop.
The shop will keep changing. The technology will keep getting better. And I’ll keep learning how to do more with it.
What I’m building toward
For the person who has everything, I create what they don’t.
That’s what I’m building Stain & Steel around.
Have something in mind?
You don’t need a drawing. You don’t need measurements. You don’t even need to know exactly how it should look yet. Just tell me the idea.