MASTER ARTISAN
TEXT BY WESLEY PULKKA PHOTOGRAPHS BY JENNIFER ESPERANZA

Into the Woods
Furniture maker Andy Sanchez reveals the stories hidden in the grain of the trees he reveres

The world of master woodworker Andy Sanchez is an aromatic one: The scents of fresh sawdust and linseed oil permeate the air of his spacious workshop, which is filled with slabs of various woods and large-scale works in progress. It's also a noisy one, with the whine of an industrial-size bandsaw clearly audible to visitors to this busy com­pound in Algodones, about 15 miles north of Albuquerque. For the past 25 years, Sanchez has dedicated himself to producing high-quality furniture and sculpture for a discerning clientele nationwide.
The wood artist and, his son, Aaron, whom Sanchez describes as his right-hand man, also create sculpture, mixed-media free­standing screens, chests of drawers, conven­tional doors, mirrors, rocking chairs, ladder-back chairs, large biomorphic bowls, and other complex designs. "I really enjoy working with Aaron," says Sanchez. "We are so used to operating in unison that we rarely speak in complete sentences. We often just look at each other and either nod or shake our heads to make a decision."
A New Mexico native, Sanchez learned to use tools as a youngster in his father's home workshop in Belen and eventually opened his own woodcraft business there. But he says he really honed his skills as a carpenter and furniture maker 17 years ago while study­ing in Maryland for the Evangelical ministry.
"I signed on for a project to build a multimillion-dollar mansion," says Sanchez. "Aaron was 14 at the time, and he worked as my apprentice. The whole house was built like a piece of furniture. If it took me eight hours to hand-fit two boards together, that was all right with the owners and the project manager because they expected perfection. We worked on that house for two years and learned something every day.
Sanchez purchased his current property in 2003-14 years after returning to New Mexico-and set about building a home, a workshop, a showroom-cum-office, and a way of life. The residence serves as an addi­tional showroom for Sanchez' handmade Spanish Colonial, Santa Fe-style, and rustic Western furniture. Its entryway opens to a two-story, kiva-shaped room with a sweep­ing spiral staircase at its center. Outside, the backyard and two-car garage hold stacks of wood being seasoned by the elements. Already-seasoned wood is protected by an overhanging roof off the side of the steel building that serves as a manufacturing facility. A shed next to the shop houses large slabs of cut and polished marble.
There among his materials and equip­ment, Sanchez devotes himself to crafts­manship whose uncompromising quality is evident in the tightly fit joinery, the careful cutting and carving that go into each proj­ect. Father and son create dovetail joints on drawers, ancient mortise-and-tenon joints on chair and table legs, and other structural elements. They often recess the dowel pins that penetrate and lock the mortise and tenon to accommodate round pieces of turquoise as a finishing touch. The turquoise Grandmother Opal sits in a vintage juniper rocking chair. The bowl she holds, also of juniper, bears the Sanchez signature turquoise inlay.
is sanded flush with the surface and pol­ished to blend seamlessly with the rest of the wood. "People often ask us if the stones damage our saw blades, because they seem to be part of the wood," Sanchez says. "When we achieve that illusion, we know we've done our job."
In addition to standard-size home and office furnishings, the duo makes oversize pieces-tables measuring ten feet in diame­ter, for instance, one of which has a six-foot ­wide lazy Susan of marble at its center.
"We had to build it in such a way that it could be taken apart for moving and instal­lation. The woman who commissioned it said that she once had 18 people seated com­fortably around the table," Sanchez reports.
The woodworker explains that it often takes several months to finish one of his larger projects because he allows time for the oil and wax to be absorbed. Though he uses a number of woods, such as mahogany and cottonwood, Sanchez' favorite pieces incorporate thick slabs of 1,500-year-old alligator juniper-in its variegated, dense grain structure, he perceives echoes of the cosmos. Working the wood brings out swirls in the oiled and waxed grain that resemble clouds and ocean waves. He recalls one large tabletop with two knotholes that looked like comet tails. In the end, no matter how long he works with wood, Sanchez says that it still surprises him when the finishing oil first reveals its intricate structure.
"I'm awed and amazed by the beauty hidden within the grain of these trees, which stood for more than a thousand years, through long periods of plenty, drought, and forest fires," he says. "Some of them were even struck by lightning. The grain tells the story of the tree's life. These junipers are so old, and reflect so much of God's creation, that our short lives seem insignificant by comparison. My job is to reveal the inner beauty of the wood and, through using it, to preserve and extend its story."
The juniper wood comes from dead trees harvested in southwestern New Mexico with a Forest Service permit. "Junipers are pro­tected, so we never cut a living one," he explains. "It's to our advantage to use dead trees-in fact, the longer they've been dead, the better-because the wood stabilizes and loses water content over the years. Most of the trees we use have been dead for at least a hundred years," says Sanchez. "These junipers grow at 60 rings per inch near the base, so you can pretty easily determine the age of an individual tree."
To enhance the appearance of these rings and fill in the natural voids like loose knots and insect damage, he adds other elements: silver, alabaster, marble, turquoise, bone, antler, black epoxy, amber resin. Sanchez says that when he builds pieces for exhibi­tion, he generally chooses abstract or Spanish Colonial designs. But when he uncovers a theme in the materials them­selves, or when a client has an idea, he focuses on pictorial elements as well. "It's really thrilling when we see some unex­pected possibility in the wood," he says.
"Even when we build conventional chairs or doors, no two are ever exactly alike. The wood always has a unique character."
Sanchez is delighted to be able to support himself and his family while doing what he loves. "I'm living my dream," he concludes.