Welcome

John was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1959, and grew up in Dublin. He attended the Institute of Marketing in Ireland and, in 1980, moved to South Dakota where he trained as a cabinetmaker. In the mid 80s, John opened his own woodworking business, a restoration company that served the needs of St. Paul's historic Summit Avenue, and the Kenwood district in Minneapolis.

By the mid '90s, John was writing full-time and working as an assistant editor at Today's Woodworker, the publishing arm of Rockler Companies. He was also helping raise two sons, build a new home in the suburbs and getting much more involved in photography. In his years with Today's Woodworker (which eventually merged with Woodworker's Journal), John's technical writing matured under the guidance of Larry Stoiaken, the magazine's editor-in-chief. John eventually became editor of Woodworker's Journal.

In 2000, the family decided to realize a long-time dream and move back to the West. Although extremely proud of his U.S.citizenship, John misses Ireland every now and then, so the family makes frequent pilgrimages across the pond. John spends his mornings at the Black Hills School of Woodworking writing woodworking books and magazine articles (primarily for American Woodworker), and the afternoons from 1PM to 4PM teaching one-on-one to woodworkers of every skill level.