#keynotkeys
Welcome to 2018 everybody and welcome back to Meet The Maker. We are going to make this bigger and better every week this year so everyone buckle up and get ready! In thinking about how to start up 2018 with a bang, I could not think of a better option than the king of the Gram Fam and the master of the IG story, and photographer extraordinaire Nick Key from Key Woodworks. Nick was probably one of my original 2-3 friends back when I started my Instagram account in late 2016. Always willing to offer advice, constructive criticism, photography tips (I have probably worn him out on that one especially), and always willing to throw a positive comment on a post to boost your ego a bit. Nick is out of the Lexington, Kentucky suburbs and utilizes half of a two car garage as his shop space.
Nick is the video production leader at a large church during the day, as well as a wedding and special events photographer (hence the bad ass photography skills). Nick has been into making and building things as long as he can remember. It really wasn't until the last few years that he started to take on commissioned work and turn out tables, smaller items....and batch orders of lemonade stands. When Nick was making those eight lemonade stands at once it was pretty awesome to watch. Lots of critical planning and efficiency to make a short deadline on eight large pieces at once and he at least made it seem like it was executed flawlessly. But then again, everyone knows that none of us content creators EVER make mistakes right?
Nick has a unique situation when it comes to time in the shop. Working his day job Monday through Friday from 9-5, and with his wife working almost every weekend from 7-7 both days (boy can I relate) it makes for shop time that can seem very sporadic and you really have to be opportunistic (I just did a glue up between paragraphs). If you look below you'll see some of the beautiful work that Nick has put out over the last couple of years.
He has breadboard ends down to a science, finish game is as strong as you can get, and the best part is, is that we all get to follow along every week when we check our Instagrams. While Nick is in the shop he says he is ALWAYS listening to 80's pop and rock. He pulls inspiration from all over. It doesn't matter if you have 10 followers or 10 million, everyone inspires him. Nick has been featured on other accounts, podcasts, and if you have to ask why, just go check out his stuff and it will answer any question you may have. I'll have all of Nick's social media information down at the end of the article.
Always wanting to better his skills, Nick and I were discussing how we want to get better and what skills we'd love to add. We both agreed that hand cut dovetails were at the top of our list. Nick and I's initial bond formed when we did our sticker swap and he saw I lived in Georgia, as he has family close to me. Then it was that we both played college baseball, some Georgia vs. Kentucky college football and basketball trash-talk, and a friendship was formed. To wrap up the first installment of Meet The Maker in 2018, I'd like to thank Nick for all of us for everything he does for the community. If anyone new to the online woodworking community has read this far into the article, and you need some inspiration, Nick Key is your guy. Model citizen for sure.
