Taimi Barty

Taimi Barty earned an engineering degree from Harvard before moving to San Francisco in the mid-1990s to work as an environmental engineer. After months of woodworking in her spare time, she enrolled in the Fine Woodworking Program at College of the Redwoods. She and her husband, Bob Sanderson, now operate Wood Joint Studio in Fort Bragg, Calif., building boats, cabinets, and furniture.

Favorite shop helper? “I have two. Our 6-year-old son, Frej, has his own workbench, and our poodle mix, Mabel, has a soft chair nearby.”