Tom’s experience in woodworking dates back as far as childhood (still in diapers), where he pounded nails into a board (filling it up) in his father’s workshop. He picked up necessary skills and tips from his late Father, Harold E. Marshall, and is known in Northeast Missouri to be a skilled artisan. During Tom’s 34 years of business, he has learned to use his creative God-given talent to build many beautiful items, including furniture items that were shipped out of State to South Carolina as well as to the Bahamas. Having an amazingly proportional mind, he has designed unique one-of-a-kind items and routinely builds items from photographs/magazine pages or rough sketches brought to him by clients. Tom embraces the opportunity to build difficult items and items that require bending wood to create curved surfaces. He will take any opportunity he is given to incorporate burl onlays, overlays, or veneers, especially bookmatched pieces. Tom established Marshall Custom Woodworks in LaPlata, Missouri, in 1985, following 5 years of service in the United States Marine Corps Embassy Security Battalion (Brazzaville, Congo; Rome, Italy). Since 1985, Tom has completed projects of all kinds and sizes, ranging from custom homes to custom piano chairs and everything in between. In 2005, Tom (and his wife and partner, Kelly) designed/built/created a small train-themed boutique hotel, the Depot Inn and Suites. They also remodeled an historic building in LaPlata, the Silver Rails Event Center. In 2007, Kelly joined Tom in their business on a full-time basis, and she now manages their finishing processes, handles accounting and marketing for their business.