Click on the images for the full photo and caption. You can also check out my current projects on Instagram: @jimbowoodsmith.

I love wood. No, I really, really love wood, with all its magical beauty and mystical properties. I love wood so much that in 2021, I gave up a great job as a research scientist to turn a life-long passion into a woodworking career. Now I create beautiful things out of wood full time, and I couldn’t be happier.

Jimbo Woodsmith is currently a one-person enterprise which offers custom made and bespoke solid wood creations. I like to make pieces that are functional, unique, and left to my own devices, a touch quirky. I get endless joy out of making things with attention to precision and detail and I like to do things the ‘proper’ way. 

I have a fully equipped workshop near Diepriver (Cape Town, South Africa) that is well suited to handle small to medium sized projects. I have made plenty of kitchen islands, cabinets, bookshelves, tables, desks, doors, picture frames and bowls, but am always up for the challenge of making something new. 

As much as I love working with wood, I also love trees. It breaks my heart to see footage of a large handsome tree being felled, so I use recycled wood whenever possible. Over the years I have collected a garage full of used Oregon Pine, Teak, Yellowwood and Oak timber. Apart from the satisfaction of saving trees, previously used wood offers a unique and beautiful look. I also buy new wood from trees that were felled for non-commercial reasons by a tree surgeon friend of mine.

Using recycled wood is very rewarding but it can be difficult to work with. It takes considerable time to source and prepare the wood and it is becoming more scarce. For some applications it makes more sense to use commercial wood. I tend to use high quality Birch Plywood for drawer and cabinet boxes. Birch trees are fast growing and abundant, which means that there is less destruction to global biodiversity when they are cut down. On the rare occasion that I do buy commercial timber, I do my best to choose timber that has been produced in a sustainable way. 

Making bespoke custom pieces means that the design phase is really important, and that each client interaction is slightly different. I like to meet in person with a client to fully understand what they would like me to make and to identify any specific requirements they might have. We usually bounce ideas off each other before deciding on a design concept and price. I then model the design on a computer to confirm that we are all on the same page, and then get building. Reclaimed wood is full of surprises, so it pays to be somewhat flexible in order to showcase its uniqueness.

• Email: jimbo@jimbowoodsmith.co.za

• Phone: 083 305 7593

• WhatsApp: Start chatting

• Workshop Address: Unit 2, 13 Mocke Road, Elfindale, Cape Town (Map)

Follow me on instagram for posts on my current projects: @jimbowoodsmith.