Meet the Saws Hub Team

Learn more about the team of writers at Saws Hub.

Jared Bauman – Founder & Editor

I’m just another fellow traveler in the world of home improvement and power tools. I grew up in a home where my father always fixed everything that broke on his own. While I can’t say I learned ​how to be handy around the house as a kid (my fault, not his), I was certainly raised with a fix-it and improvement mindset.

Fast forward many years later to my wife and I buying our first house. We couldn’t afford a nice, new home, so we had to settle for a foreclosure that needed a LOT of work. Over the coming years, I made a lot of phone calls to Dad, and we started working on every room of the home, fixing it up and making it something my wife and I were excited to live in.

A man and woman install fence boards on a DIY home imrpovement project
Jared building a new fence at his house

I put in new tile floors, new baseboard, and redid our kitchen cabinets. ​I ripped out walls and put new ones up, learning how to hang drywall and tape and mud. We painted every square inch of that house, inside and out. I built a brand new fence to wrap around our house. The list goes on and on.

And in the process, I learned just how valuable having high quality tools are. I remember renting an entry-level, poorly maintained tile saw from Home Depot to cut the tile for the floor. No matter what, my father and I couldn’t get it to cut tile straight. Every piece would come out crooked or curved.

​I turned to the internet to help me find a tile saw to purchase, and saw a need for a website to help people like myself. From that, SawsHub was born (well, after I finished the house)! As we’ve grown, we added expert contributors to help the site serve its readers.

See Jared Bauman on Linkedin

Jared and his daughter work on building a DIY compost bin for their yard
Jared and his daughter work on building a DIY compost bin for their yard

Dennis Bauman – Master Woodworker

Dennis has been an expert at home repair, remodel, and DIY projects for nearly 40 years. His first experience came when purchased a home made in the early 1940’s… needless to say, there wasn’t much in the home that was in good repair, and Dennis quickly found his nights and weekends spend learning how to fix various parts of the house.

40 years later, the home has been completely redone from the inside out, and restored to its original form. The home is a featured design by renowned Southern California Architect Cliff May, considered to be the father of the California Ranch Home.

As Dennis neared retirement, he began to pick up an interest in fine woodworking. With an empty nest and a completed list of home repairs, he was able to carve our nights and weekends to develop his wood project skills.

Bandsaw vs Jigsaw: Two Essential Power Saws Compared and Reviewed

A decade later, Dennis is an expert at fine woodworking projects, ranging from custom furniture pieces like armoires, vanities, and bookshelves, along with standard windows and door construction.

He considers himself to be a hybrid woodworker, which means you utilize both machines and hand crafting. This involves making use of dovetail joinery for drawers, mortise and tenon joinery for frame construction, and other hand tools and practices. Deriving inspiration from Mark Spagnolo and others, Dennis’ wood pieces are both timeless and progressive.

Dennis provides SawsHub with the advice and best practices on fine woodworking articles, and is also the featured figure behind all of the website’s educational videos. See Dennis Bauman on Linkedin.

Dennis installing drawer faces on a bathroom vanity

Ellenkate Finley – Contributor

Ellenkate grew up on job sites run by her family’s construction company. She held flashlights until she was old enough to operate tools. Her first big project was building an epic treehouse with her dad. As a teenager, she worked with local theater companies, building props and constructing sets for their productions. 

She earned her theater degree from The Hartt School, a prestigious performing arts conservatory in Connecticut, where she broadened her design knowledge and deepened her technical know-how. While living in Chicago and building sets on the side, she started a successful vacation rental conversion company

Ellenkate’s communication expertise comes from her time as a curriculum consultant for medical colleges such as UIC and Rush Medical College. She is obsessed with skill development and the gradual transition from novice to expert. Her curricula have been published in prominent medical education journals. 

In 2017, she was commissioned to write a foundational course, now in use at the Ministry of Education in China. She is proudest of the design and DIY work she did on her Chicago loft, which was featured in the Chicago Reader and on Apartment Therapy.

See Ellenkate on Linkedin.

Allen Michael – Editor in Chief & DIY Expert

Allen joins the SawsHub team as the resident DIY expert. So much of the website is dedicated to do-it-yourself projects and ideas, and it became clear that the site needed an individual focused on this area. Enter Allen.

Allen runs a popular home website, and understands what it takes to educate audiences through online content. His popular site HomeViable.com has been a staple in the home cleaning space, and he continues to dedicate his spare time helping to grow out the resources there.

Allen Michael Contributing Author at SawsHub
Allen Michael

Through his focus at home, Allen developed an insatiable appetite for home improvement projects that he could do for cheap on weekends. Over the years, he has gained valuable experience, which he shares in detail in articles like How to Build A DIY Dining Room Table.

In so many ways, Allen represents and epitomizes a large portion of the readers that come to SawsHub for DIY advice. His ability to clearly share these DIY ideas is a huge asset, and he is a valuable resource to the home improvement community.