Most woodworkers buy their lumber from somewhere else. Most kiln services don't do furniture. Most slab sellers don't build anything. Tougas Timberworks does all three, and because one person controls every step, you never wonder where quality got lost.
Eric Tougas has spent more than two decades around wood. He mills timber sourced right here in Connecticut, dries it in his own kiln to furniture-grade moisture content, and builds pieces by hand in his Monroe shop. There's no crew passing your project from station to station. It's just Eric, from start to finish.
The best furniture starts before the shop. Eric sources timber locally, often wood that other people would pass over, and mills it himself using a chainsaw mill he's been running for years. Every slab tells a story about where it came from.
Milling your own lumber is how you control quality from the very beginning. The Granberg rig. The steel saw. The stacks of slabs air-drying in the yard. This is how it starts.
This is where a lot of woodworkers cut corners. Eric doesn't. He runs a professional iDry kiln, drying material to true furniture-grade moisture levels. That's why his furniture stays flat and his clients stay happy.
Tables. Countertops. Islands. Mantels. Floating shelves. If it starts with a slab of hardwood, Eric can build it. When delivery day comes, what you see is almost always better than what you imagined.
Three core services for homeowners, interior designers, and fellow woodworkers across Fairfield County and Connecticut. Most clients start with one and come back for the others.
Live edge furniture isn't mass-produced. Every table, countertop, island, and mantel Eric builds starts with a specific piece of wood, one you choose, one that fits your space, and one that will never look exactly like anything else in the world.
Get a QuoteIf you're a woodworker or craftsman with timber that needs to be dried correctly, not just air-dried and hoped for, Eric's iDry kiln is available for custom drying service at $0.15 per board foot per day.
Get a QuoteTougas Timberworks maintains a rotating inventory of kiln-dried hardwood slabs available for purchase. Black walnut, white oak, hard maple, cherry, sycamore. Everything sold kiln dried, ready to go into a build.
See All ServicesEric Tougas grew up watching his grandfather build wooden toys in a detached garage and his father spend seven years turning a canoe in the driveway. He didn't come out of art school or a trade program. He came up through the wood, slowly, honestly, the way the craft demands.
He started woodworking as a way to decompress. For years it stayed a hobby. Then his daughter was born, something clicked, and Tougas Timberworks became real. He's still in Monroe. Still one person. Still handling every piece of timber that comes through, from the mill to the kiln to the bench.
About Eric20+
Years in the Craft
Eric has been around wood since childhood and woodworking seriously since his mid-20s. More than two decades of learning, failing, and getting better.
Full Cycle
Source to Finished Piece
Mill it. Dry it. Build it. There's no outsourced step in a Tougas Timberworks project. What you see is what one person built, by hand.
Fairfield County
Local Delivery and Install
Based in Monroe, CT. Serving Fairfield County and beyond. If the project's the right size, the distance is negotiable.
Whether you've got a specific piece of wood in mind, raw timber that needs drying, or you're not sure what you want yet, the best first step is the same. Come see the shop. Look at some slabs. Ask questions. Eric will give you a straight answer on what it would take and what it would cost.
