About Monk Creek Woodworks

Owned and operated by Dennis Janssen, Monk Creek Woodworks produces a variety of furniture, home decor, and kitchenware items. He also operates a sawmill, has furniture-grade hardwood lumber for sale, and offers a sharpening service for local customers.

Dennis has been working with wood since his teenage years and is focused on making the very best quality wood creations. He works with wood from standing trees to finished products—selecting, cutting, sawing, constructing, and finishing items from all components of the tree.

He has earned the title of “Master Woodworker” from the Marc Adams School of Woodworking, one of North America's premier woodworking schools, having mastered turning, joinery, finishing, carving, wood bending, case construction, chair making, veneering, design, hand tool use, inlay, period furniture construction, and more. He has also attended The Breed School of Woodworking in Rollinsford, New Hampshire.

Dennis has had his work juried and selected for inclusion in the Portland Museum of Contemporary Craft's 2013 exhibition "Quality is Contagious" focusing on the revered modern toolmaker John Economaki and his company Bridge City Tool Works.

Dennis focuses on custom “heirloom” pieces both large and small, and also makes many turned items and usable pieces that have aesthetic appeal as well functionality for daily use.

Dennis combines both power tool technology with traditional hand-working methods to create his work. One argument is, “Do you think that the 1700s woodworker standing in the bottom of a saw pit for a living cutting out planks from trees would not have jumped at the chance to use a power sawmill?” Dennis uses power tools to gain efficiency, but gravitates to traditional hand tools where they can enhance or improve the fit and quality of his work.