Meet Kris Crawford, a passionate woodworker and motorcycle enthusiast from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada! Kris is the creative force behind the YouTube channel Further North Fabrication, where he shares his innovative projects and woodworking expertise with a growing community of followers.
We first discovered Kris through fellow TotalBoat ambassador Jonny Builds, then met him in person at WorkBench Con. We've enjoyed recent visits from Kris at the TotalBoat headquarters where we filmed an ad as well as went live on Instagram where he demonstrated some carbon fiber tips and made a sick cafe racer motorcycle seat with us!
Read on to learn more about Kris' journey!
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Could you please introduce yourself and provide a brief overview of your background as a maker(woodworker)?
My name is Kris Crawford. I live in Edmonton Alberta Canada and I run the YT Channel Further North Fabrication.
How has your background or experiences outside of woodworking influenced your creative approach or the projects you pursue?
For the past 20 years, I have been a licensed mortgage broker. That means I spend a lot of time at my computer doing email and processing mortgage files for the families and individuals I work with. Woodworking and building motorcycles give me a creative outlet that flexes a different side of my brain that I don’t get to use during the day.
In high school I envisioned myself becoming a shop teacher, so I did lots of shop classes as well as programs for being a teacher, assistant, and shop classes for younger grades. In college, I started working towards my bachelor of arts which would’ve led me to my teaching degree.
I ended up getting into sales at an early age and never finished the education I would’ve needed to become a teacher, but I’ve always been very passionate about helping others develop their creativity and skills with tools.
As a parent, I’ve been able to involve my kids in different projects either for them or for others where I’ve been able to pair them with age appropriate tools for them to use. My hope is always been that this will spark a passion in them for making. My oldest son has started wood turning as well as helping make charcuterie boards for mortgage clients. My daughter has expressed her creativity with making jewelry, art, and performing arts. And now my youngest son has gotten into 3-D printing and cosplay design.
In what ways do you incorporate sustainability or eco-conscious practices into your woodworking projects?
I try to utilize as much of the wood scraps we generate as possible. My wife happily takes most of the scraps to use in her art projects. Saw dust goes into our compost or into the garden as a ground cover. I also love finding ways to repair items and have recently started fabricating replacement parts either with my 3D printer or creating stronger items out of scrap metal. I believe in utilizing the resources we have to repair or rebuild instead of replacing the entire item. When restoring motorbikes, I love taking original parts and making them look brand new again. Any of the parts that are not used in the new design are sold to people who are restoring bikes to their original design so little is wasted or discarded if possible.
What role do mistakes or "happy accidents" play in your creative process? Can you recall a time when a mistake led to an unexpected and positive outcome?
I think mistakes drive more creativity because it activates the need for problem-solving. Something that I also appreciate about my day job is being able to analyze the situation and work through and find a fair favourable outcome is a key part of what has helped me stay engaged and what I do professionally.
I can remember specifically the carbon fibre tabletop table I made a few years ago. I had not accounted for any overhang on the ends of the tabletop so I had the idea to integrate some decorative walnut end pieces. I don’t think anyone looking at the table would ever think it was a mistake because it just adds to the aesthetic of the piece.
As a TotalBoat ambassador, how has using TotalBoat products enhanced your woodworking projects? Are there any specific products that have become indispensable in your workshop?
The easy answer is the finishes and epoxy that TotalBoat offers. Over the past few years I’ve been experimenting more and more with incorporating carbon fiber, and fibreglass into both my motorcycle and woodworking projects, the cross between man-made products and natural materials brings unique challenges, but also incredible results. In the future, I want to do more projects that play off these contrasts, to add strength and durability to projects, but also to force me to think more out of the box with my designs.
View the build of this epoxy and walnut cabinet in 'Why Aren't More Woodworkers Experiencing with Epoxy?'
Cabinet made with High Performance Epoxy and ThickSet Deep Pour Epoxy
Do you have any favorite tools or techniques you frequently use in your projects? Why do you enjoy working with them?
The tool I always start with it either Sketch Up or Fusion 360. Being a very visual person 3-D modelling software helps me plan out what the project will look like, but also the order of operations that I need to go through to build the peace I found this very helpful with the motorcycle builds as well. Using programs like Illustrator and Photoshop to come up with renderings of what I envision the end project to look like.
How do you approach experimenting with new materials or techniques in your woodworking? Are there any materials or techniques you're currently excited to explore further?
I love experimenting with new materials and techniques. It’s pretty hard to build the kitchen table without a table top and four legs but it’s harder to design a piece that doesn’t look like something that’s been built thousands of times before. I think new materials and techniques becomes motivation to build and share a lot of the projects that I do.
Photo by Justin Mabie
Can you share a memorable experience where your woodworking skills positively impacted someone else's life or a community project?
The most rewarding comments that I get on my videos are from parents that are motivated and inspired by seeing my kids involvement in different projects. Speaking into someone’s inspiration and hopefully giving the confidence to them to tackle similar projects gives me such a boost and drives me to continue to share the content I’m making.
Have you ever collaborated with other makers or artists? Can you share a memorable collaboration experience/event and the outcome?
A few years ago, I worked with Jonny Lambert of Jonny Builds on a secret door for his daughter’s bedroom. Collaborating with him was one of the highlights of being part of the Maker Community. Spending that time with Jonny, seeing his creative process and getting to know him better was such a rewarding Experience.
What role does technology play in your woodworking practice? Are there any digital tools or software that you find particularly useful?
I think technology plays a huge role in developing skill and accelerating the possibilities of design. 3-D modelling software is a huge part of my workflow helps me visualize the potential outcome of my designs and plan my steps for execution for years. I’ve used CNC and other digital fabrication tools to corporate to my designs or consistent details, accelerated and challenged my skill
Programs like sketch up and fusion 360 where I spend majority of my time planning and designing projects but also components for my bills. Or recently I’ve gotten into digital fabrication and 3-D printing to build specialty parts for the motorcycle builds and for creating specific tool holders for shop organization. Being in an organized space is becoming a motivator to be working and filming in my shop. The aesthetic of organization and uniformity wasn’t as important to me until recently. I’m now seeing the value in being able to get out to the shop and just start building or working on a project, when I don’t need to spend extra time trying to find a specific tool or cleaning up from the previous project. No expert at this or have I even perfected the final look of how I want everything to be but digital fabrication is helping me dream up with the final , looking and feel of my shop
How do you navigate the balance between preserving traditional woodworking methods and incorporating modern innovations into your craft?
If you visit my shop, you will see that I have a section decorated with my father and grandfathers old hand planes, chisels, and other tools that they used. I don’t use these traditional tools as much, but for me, it’s a reminder of my roots. I would love one day to be able to restore some of the traditional tools passed on to me, but for now they serve as inspiration
Photo by Justin Mabie
As someone who shares their work online, what impact do you hope to have on your audience or the woodworking community as a whole?
I really hope that people see the work that I do and are inspired to try things for themselves. Undertaking a lot of the woodworking and recent motorcycle projects come with a high level of feeling overwhelmed by what is next in the process. I think that discourages a lot of people from even getting started my videos. I do my best to explain the theory of eating an elephant all that is is just a focus on one step at a time doing one small task or operation that will move you closer to the finish project. One of the projects that demonstrates this the most for me was the bent lamination office chair that I built a few years ago I came up with a design , I knew what I needed as far as materials and I had a very general idea of the techniques. There’s a few occasions during that project where I ended up just sitting and staring at the pile of Materials sitting on my workbench, wondering what I had gotten myself into.
Can you describe a dream project or collaboration that you aspire to undertake in the future? What makes it so compelling to you?
A dream project for me for woodworking would definitely be building my own shop. It’s more in the vein of construction versus fine woodworking or mechanics but building up space that is unique and specific to my interests would be a dream come true.
Clear High Performance Epoxy Kits
ThickSet Deep Pour Epoxy Resin Kits
Halcyon Water-Based Marine Varnish
Wood Honey Food Safe Wood Finish
