Bainbridge demands high quality, but its residents are, for the most part, sensitive to environmental concerns.

Catering to those realities, Tom Jorgensen made a niche for himself by turning out high-quality woodworking in an eco-friendly fashion.

In so doing, he’s not only making a statement, but getting out ahead of what he thinks the law will someday require of all craftsmen.

“Everybody is going to have to do it sooner or later,” said Jorgensen, owner of Island Door and Millwork. “I’d rather do it sooner instead of later.”

The formula has worked well enough that Jorgensen outgrew a Lynwood Center garage, and moved recently into a 4,200-square-foot space in the Day Road industrial area, part of the space vacated by Watson Furniture’s move to Poulsbo.

The most environmentally difficult part of woodworking may be painting, because paint not only can contaminate water supplies, but gives off fumes that can impact air quality.

Jorgensen has addressed the water issue by using relatively new water-based finishing materials that are much less polluting than standard oil-based materials.

He addressed the air-quality issue by fitting out his paint-spraying rooms with a system of fans and conduits that draws the fumes out of the room, runs them through a series of filters and charcoal, then returns the cleaned air to the warehouse/work area, with no external emissions.

That arrangement has another benefit, Jorgensen said.

“I’ve heated this area once,” he said. “There’s no point in letting heated air escape.”

As far as the material itself is concerned, Jorgensen is moving toward exclusive use of certified woods, those cultivated using environmentally sustainable methods.

“We’re losing the rainforests,” he said. “This should help out quite a bit, and again, there really isn’t any choice in the long run.”

The sawdust doesn’t go to waste either. Jorgensen sells it to a landscape company in Suquamish that incorporates it into soil mix.

It’s a good thing he can find a use for the sawdust, because the operation produces it in generous measure. Decorative molding pieces begin as 1-by-6 boards, then are carved by a machine fitted with the appropriate knife attachment.

The cabinetry work splits about evenly between customers who want a special look and those who need to have an oddly sized space fitted.

The door work, Jorgensen said, is in many respects the least interesting. Doors come into the shop pre-built, and the business will normally paint them, mount hinges, drill the holes for the hardware and send them out for use.

But the doors are also the entrance, so to speak, for the woodworking package deals – “You’ve got to do the doors to do the rest of the trim,” Jorgensen notes.

Even where there is little customizing of the woodwork, Jorgensen said his company offers better quality than the “big box” stores.

“A lot of them will have material made from particle board,” he said. “We have either hardwood or plywood, and some of the woods are harder to come by.”

Jorgensen discerned the need for his business during 20-plus years of work as a carpenter, working with his father, a contractor. After moving around Western Washington for a number of years, he chose Bainbridge as the base for his business.

He opened a one-person shop in January 2000, then brought on Liz Howgate, with whom he had worked in construction, as production manager. A third employee was added while they were still in Lynwood Center, and a fourth after the move into the larger quarters.

Jorgensen said his work is about half renovation and half new construction, and is also evenly divided between residential and commercial work. Customers have included the Courtyards on Madison – trim, not doors – and the Dockside office buildings on Parfitt.

The most aesthetically satisfying aspect of his craft, Jorgensen said, is molding work with exotic woods.

“I love to see what kind of grain and color comes out as you turn those woods into molding,” he said.