JACKSON, Wyo. — The Wood Shop sits off a dirt driveway as you go up the pass. It’s surrounded by trees. It smells like sawdust. It’s the perfect spot for Zac Seipel to work.
I was there to interview Zac and see what life lessons I could learn from a professional woodworker. Zac is a woodshop owner and woodworker in Jackson Hole. He works all day, and he really enjoys his job. Zac is “completely obsessed with furniture.”
When I first got there, Zac said ‘hello’ and showed me around the woodshop. Zac is a nice person. He’s happy, he loves his job, and likes to talk about his job. Zac had long hair like mine, tattoos, and a dust mask. If I could give him a trait, it would be energetic. He was really excited to meet me and had a good attitude. He must have had a good day.
I learned to always take your time when you’re trying to build something or learn something new. “I really think just the beauty of a finished piece. And just the process of creating that goes into that is really inspirational,” said Zac. “Kind of step back a little bit and not be so rushed and hurried.”
It’s cool how he goes slow and takes his time and the tools are old too. For example, Zack still uses a bandsaw from 1939. In fact, most of the tools he uses are hand tools.
Zac takes his time and is careful because he has his math formulas up on his wall. When he needs to know how to do something, he just has to look up on his wall. “I have to do drawings that are perfectly to scale and exactly like what I’m gonna make,” said Zac. “There’s a ton of geometry.” Zac took his time to practice math and now he is good at it. “I was never good at math in school, probably because I didn’t really try hard enough, but now I always use it,” said Zac.
Zac balances his ability to be careful with a busy schedule. He’s very efficient. He is really organized with his tools. He has all his tools hanging in a different spot. He also always uses the right tool for the job. He knows every tool he uses. For example, he uses a planer that his teacher made him. Zac uses the planer to shave the wood to make it even and smooth. Also, Zac has 13 different wood chisels, and they are ordered from big to small. Zac is an organized person.
Zac had many lessons to teach me, but mainly, I learned to take my time and be patient when building something or learning something new.
You can view more of Zac’s work at https://www.woodshopjh.com/work.
Sabin Gutierrez wrote this article as part of a writing workshop with Teton Tutors. He is 11 years old. He plays lacrosse, loves to ski, and hang out with his dogs Olive and Balto!
