Jon Eakes

Although an accomplished wood worker in his own right, Jon has moved from being a good carpenter to being a Master Teacher having spent the last 30+ years teaching wood working and residential construction, renovation and problem solving both to the Do It Yourself sector as well as to construction professionals. In an age of entertainment based reality TV and "everyone has a Web opinion", Jon has built a reputation for credibility, concentrating on the overall systems approach to building science while having a unique talent for explaining the hands-on details of getting the work done. In addition he has learned how to work differently with each of the diverse communications media: TV (Live & Recorded for 31 years), Live Radio (19 years), Magazines (several columns consumer & professional), Books (6 books published), Seminars (constantly), Video (11 VHS), DVD (2 and growing) and the many faces of the Web (13 years of JonEakes.com) -- each requiring its own focus, its own style and its own objectives.

So who is he and what has he done? To read, hear and see him presently, you can visit www.JonEakes.com. Check out the "Database" tab to read over 2,000 encyclopaedic pages of home improvement questions and answers, or click on the "Jon on Radio" tab to hear him live on Saturday morning hot line radio, or listen to the radio archives, or click on the home page DVD link to see a sample of what he is producing for the DVD media.

Jon grew up in California with a couple of homemade boats under his belt, a welding certificate to pay his way through college and finally an Engineering/Administration education from Sacramento State College. He studied woodworking in both Japan and France and finally set up a cabinet shop in Montreal because he wanted to learn French.

From 1973 to 1980 his company "La Cheville du Bois" specialized in restaurant and bar furnishings for the famous "Latin Quarter" district of Montreal, not to mention the occasional spiral staircase for the historic Old Montreal and lots of cabinets that kept the shop going. In 1978 he took over the coast-to-coast woodworking TV show called Mr. Chips and by the early '80 he had left the shop for the TV studio and show circuit. The Energy Conservation movement in the early '80s allowed him to build solid ties to research organizations such as the Institute for Research in Construction of the National Research Council of Canada and the Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation and led to him splitting his time between trades training for the housing industry and the exploding DIY Home Improvement movement. Having the only national TV show on the subject at that time also permitted him to develop the relationships with associations and manufacturers that have given him the high level of credibility that he holds today. Having been national spokesman for Dow Styrofoam, Westrock Drywall, the Reader's Digest and the Government of Canada's energy conservation efforts was a natural outgrowth of that credibility.

Although there was plenty enough work to keep him busy in a country the size of Canada and working in two languages, his work has shown up in both print and TV in the US on a number of occasions from articles in the Journal of Light Construction, to table saw teaching in the TimeLife video series SHOP SECRETS FROM MASTER CRAFTSMEN, to his "Renovation Zone" TV series broadcast on The Learning Channel and "Just Ask Jon Eakes" broadcast on the DIY Network in the US.

He is proud to be the longest standing and longest lasting, home improvement personality in North America and with the evolution of the web he has found a place where his particular brand of detailed and helpful information/training can expand for years to come.