Owned and operated by Dennis Janssen, Monk Creek Woodworks produces a variety of items—furniture, turned bowls, natural edge cutting boards, utensils—and also operates a Woodmizer sawmill, has lumber available for sale, and a sharpening service. Dennis has been working with wood since his teenage years and is focused on making the very best quality wooden creations he can make.  He works with wood from standing trees to finished products—selecting, cutting, sawing, constructing, and finishing items from all components of trees. He has earned a “Master Woodworker” status from the Marc Adams School of Woodworking near Franklin, Indiana, one of the premier woodworking schools in North America, having mastered turning, joinery, finishing, carving, wood bending, case construction, chair making, veneering, design, hand tool use, inlay, period furniture construction, etc. 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 Modern Craft in a 2013 exhibition. He focuses on custom “heirloom” pieces for customers, and also makes many turned items and usable pieces which have aesthetic appeal as well as being functional. Dennis combines both power tool technology with traditional hand working methods to create his work. One argument is, “Do you think that the 1700s guy 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 saw mill?” 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.