About Me

Hi!

I'm David Oakes, "The Cribbage Guy", maker of some of the finest cribbage boards from my studio in northern Idaho.

I hail originally from Brighton, England and have been slowly heading west. After college, I lived for ten years in Wales where I learned to carve Welsh Lovespoons, a traditional craft dating back to the 1500's.

After falling for an American lady, I emigrated to the States, and proudly became a U.S. citizen in 2003. We lived in Michigan for almost ten years before moving west again to northern Idaho with our young son. We found an idyllic spot in the woods, surrounded by mountains, rivers and lakes. Throughout this time we played much cribbage and gin rummy, treasuring our time playing at the local coffee shop. I also entered a small cribbage tournament and, paired with a partner that had never played before, came in second defeating the favorite, our new pastor Jim and his partner.

Given the space, a new workshop and plenty of time, it wasn't long before I was carving again. I inherited some tools from my father when he passed and those just added to the joy of creating from wood. I started carving some more lovespoons, and of course cribbage boards. I have been developing and building specialized computer-assisted machinery to help with the manufacturing process. It certainly helps when some boards have almost 500 holes to drill, each needing to be carefully placed!

I sell my work at local craft fairs, in stores, galleries and here online. I'm not a part-time hobbyist - this is now my profession and I plan to continue to make boards that people will enjoy playing on for many years to come.

Thank you for reading this far - I hope my story inspires you to play more cribbage, learn woodcarving or just to chase your dreams!

And if you buy one of my boards, that would be great too!

David
The Cribbage Guy