Bio
My name is Jesse LaPadula, and I own Carousel City Woodworks.
I started my woodworking journey under the apprenticeship of Kevin LaDue of LaDue Music as a luthier of acoustic guitars. After completing my first instrument, I felt pretty proud, but my teacher reminded me to remain humble, saying “congratulations! You now know .015% of woodworking.”
“Well how much do you know, then?!” I teased my mentor who has been holding a hand plane for more than 50 years.
“…maybe 3%.”
After completing the construction of my basement workshop, I built several guitars. Then, I wanted to practice making something (relatively) simple, but excellent. By now I have made hundreds of cutting boards, and about a dozen iterations of the styles I currently sell. Trial and error is not the kindest teacher, but several design iterations later I know you will enjoy the final product. Heck, maybe I’ll even make one for myself someday.
Things got real serious when I purchased a cheap laser engraver using some spare Amazon points. I was tasked with learning the ropes of digital design and CNC coding. I began accepting orders for custom engraved cutting boards and signs in 2021. It turns out that engraving is just as much fun as crafting the product itself! Involving customers in the design process is even more fun. Seeing their creative spark ignite into a fledged product makes the whole experience that much more exciting for me.
In Summer of 2022, I made the decision to purchase my first professional CO2 laser engraver to keep up with the demands of corporate bulk orders. I went from being able to engrave a design in 30 minutes to about 3. This capital investment has been my favorite to date!
I thank you for supporting my woodworking journey. Currently, I build several acoustic guitars a year on commission. Take a look at those here.
Please, let me know what I can do for you.
Form Factor
Sustainability is the cause and effect of my business. I take pride in my generation’s effort to reuse, recycle, and retain this earth in the way we inherited it. My part in this effort is, admittedly, very easy and straightforward; every domestic species I use in my products has been procured by a local independent sawyer who practices Urban Logging.
This means that your product was most likely crafted from a tree within the Triple Cities. If you live outside of the Southern Tier of New York, then rest assured that your product was crafted using logs that otherwise would have gone to waste.
Any Exotics I use are sourced from a local hardwood supplier, and purchased with legal tender. This means that the sustainability of these trees doesn’t warrant CITES certification, and thereby meets someone’s merit of sustainability. Still, though, I use these species for accentual purposes only.
After all, there is no substitute for the beauty and rigidity of North American Black Walnut.