Aldercroft Joinery Portland, Maine · est. 2009

DWG № 26-114 · SHEET 1 OF 1 · SCALE 1:1

Furniture drawn first,
then cut by hand.

Aldercroft is a one-man joinery shop on the Portland waterfront. Every piece starts as a measured drawing you approve, and ends in dovetails, wedged tenons, and drawbored frames, cut by hand in hardwood from Maine sawyers.

Request a commission current lead time: 10–14 weeks

A wooden hand plane resting on a sawdust-covered bench, tools and offcuts behind it
The bench at 47 Tideworks Lane

At the bench

Every commission is cut, pared and fitted by hand at Tideworks Lane. No flat-pack hardware, no biscuits where a joint belongs.

Two hands paring a tenon shoulder with a bench chisel, shavings across the bench top
Paring a shoulder beech, by hand
A joiner driving a chisel with a wooden mallet, chopping a mortise in an oak rail
Chopping a mortise white oak
Hands smoothing a turned circular component on the workbench
Truing a curve table base
Close-up of a hand plane taking a shaving off a board, curls of wood around it
Final passes no. 4 smoother
A joiner smoothing the edge of an assembled wooden frame in the workshop
Fitting a frame cherry, before finishing

Services & rates

ServiceFromNotes
Commissioned furniture$1,800Tables, case pieces, beds. Dining tables usually land $2,800–$5,500.
Built-ins$2,400Bookcases, window seats, alcoves. Installed by me, no site fees, usually 8–10 weeks.
Kitchen fit-outs$9,500Solid-wood cabinetry, built and installed.
Repair & restoration$85/hrWritten estimate first. Family pieces treated like commissions.

Fixed quote before work starts · 50% deposit to book the bench · delivery within 25 miles included

How a commission runs

  1. Measure & draw

    We talk, I measure, and you get a dimensioned drawing and timber samples, free for any project over $1,800. Nothing is cut until the drawing is signed.

  2. Joinery

    Boards are bought rough, acclimated in the shop, and joined by hand: dovetailed drawers, wedged through-tenons, drawbored frames. No fasteners where a joint should be.

  3. Finish & deliver

    Hand-rubbed oil or hardwax finishes that can be repaired, not replaced. I deliver and install personally, and every piece carries a lifetime guarantee on the joinery.

A wall of chisels, saws and marking gauges hung above the bench in the joinery shop
The wall behind the bench. Most of these were his grandfather's.

The joiner

Aldercroft is Ewan Aldercroft: apprenticed in Aberdeen, settled in Maine, building furniture full-time since 2009. The shop is one bench, one bandsaw, and a wall of hand planes on the working waterfront. About twenty commissions leave the shop each year; that's the most one pair of hands can do properly, and it is deliberate.

Timber comes as rough boards from two Maine sawyers: white oak, black walnut, cherry, hard maple, and brown ash, dried slowly and chosen one plank at a time. Reclaimed timber is welcome if it's sound, and if you bring a tree down on your own land, we can talk about having it milled and built into something that stays in the family.

Start a commission

Write a few lines about the piece (room, rough size, timber if you have a preference) and I'll reply within two working days with honest thoughts on cost and timing.

ewan@aldercroftjoinery.example
(207) 555-0134 · weekdays 8–4
47 Tideworks Ln, Portland, ME 04101 · workshop visits by appointment