BEN BLOCK
BEN BLOCK
While he was growing up, Ben’s parents sawed lumber together at their custom sawmill Block Brothers Lumber in Monroe, Maine, where they cleared land and designed and built their home from the ground up. Sawing lumber offered them a way to work with their hands, to be self-sufficient, and to provide a useful, tangible service to people in their community. Ben had to leave Maine—and return home—to discover that this was what he wanted, too.
Ben studied ethnomusicology and education history and policy at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. After graduating he moved to a small town outside of Durham, North Carolina, where he worked briefly on a horse farm and in an elementary school before finding work in a cabinet shop. Woodworking was a natural fit for a guy who had grown up with sawdust in his pockets. A stint at a small guitar shop helped him further hone his skills and deepened his appreciation for detail and quality. He eventually moved home to Maine, started building cabinets and doing finish work for a builder in his hometown. In 2013, Ben founded his business, now housed in what was once a boatyard on Route One in Northport.
These days Ben lives with his wife Morgan and their two sons Andrew and Henry on old farmland in a small town close to where he grew up. Drawing on his deep familiarity with the materials and his love of the craft, Ben is exacting, and committed to making timeless custom cabinetry of the highest quality.
THE HISTORY
THE HISTORY
“I remember my Pop saying he had named his sawmill business Block Brothers for his future sons, before any of us were born. Now I’m proud to carry on that name in a new iteration of the family business that didn’t start until after he was gone.”
Ben gained an early appreciation for the materials he works with today, watching trees turn into logs, logs turn into lumber, and lumber turn into furniture.
Ben’s parents worked in tandem while their sons were growing up. His mom worked for years as the “pilot” at the mill, piling slabs, stacking boards, and rolling logs—all the while pushing each of her three boys in a swing by her side.
Block Brothers Lumber lives on in thousands upon thousands of board feet of lumber in houses and barns throughout New Hampshire and Maine.
In 1992, Ben's parents moved the family and sawmill from Epping, New Hampshire to Monroe, cleared land, and began building a post-and-beam house of their own design. Here, Zach, the youngest Block Brother, helps notch mortises in the pine beams.
They cut the trees. They sawed the lumber. They built the house.
Ben, age 8, hammers pine sheathing onto the north wall of his family’s Monroe home.
Pop with his mallet, 1992.
“I use my Pop’s tools in the shop every day. They serve as a constant reminder of where I came from and how I got here.”
Pop's mallet in the shop today.
The Process
The Process
In the shop you’ll find a skilled crew of woodworkers who embody the Maine standards of hard work and quality craftsmanship. Every piece of cabinetry is crafted with extraordinary attention to detail in our small shop in Northport, Maine. We appreciate the uniqueness of each project and hold ourselves to the highest standards. We carefully select every piece of wood, align the grain, individually fit the doors, sand the surfaces smooth, and make sure every edge is eased to look and feel just right. The results are a combination of rugged durability and next-level quality.
We use sustainably and locally sourced lumber, sheet goods free of formaldehyde, and low-VOC finishes whenever possible. We prefer these options for the sake of the environment, but also for the health of the crew, the homeowners, and their families.
Attention to detail at the beginning of the design process results in a seamless install with as little disruption to the home as possible. In addition to quality, we also care about building personal relationships with our clients. We want to facilitate an experience that is enjoyable and rewarding for everyone at every stage of the process. Our cabinets are designed, built, and installed to last well beyond our lifetimes.
