When Carlo D’Antonio sold his 110-year-old wooden sailboat Banzai he said goodbye to all of his handcrafted restorations except for one — the flagpole. The American flag with its mahogany flagpole and bracket now reside over the door of Mr. D’Antonio’s furniture showroom in West Tisbury.

“I told them they could make their own flagpole,” he said.

The showroom, which opened two months ago, is the former home of blacksmith William Bodfish.

“Having the office here in the Bodfish house, it feels right,” said Mr. D’Antonio.

Mr. D’Antonio has worked as a carpenter and handyman on the Island for over 50 years. Originally from Warwick, R.I, Mr. D’Antonio was stationed in Korea for a bit. He returned to America and attended the Museum School of Fine Arts in Boston. “I didn’t know many other Army guys who studied painting and sculpture, but I didn’t mind.”

While there he also began building large, wooden structures to accompany his work. His practical skills and passions were useful when he visited the Island with a friend in 1965.

Mr. D'Antonio's father came to America in the 1920s and built the family home in Rhode Island by hand.

Maria Thibodeau

Mr. D'Antonio's father came to America in the 1920s and built the family home in Rhode Island by hand.

Maria Thibodeau

“I came here and realized I’d do anything, work any job, to stay.”

Mr. D’Antonio became a handyman, carpenter and cabinetmaker, as well as a shipwright. Today he is an all-around craftsman and prefers to work on one piece at a time.

“Anyone can make an appointment, have a look around, and commission a piece,” he said.

He also spends a lot of time creating pieces for his family. With three children and seven grandchildren, Mr. D’Antonio is often working on a birthday gift. One Christmas he made a wooden toolbox filled with wooden tools for his granddaughters Aya, Aviva and Aria. This year he made two end tables for his daughter Meg. He brushed the tables with a traditional Danish oil finish, which is susceptible to damage from condensation.

“I made two walnut end tables with drawers. I said ‘Meg, you have to use coasters with this. You have to be careful.’ So she and her husband posted me a photo of two glasses of water on the end tables, just trying to make me go crazy.”

Mr. D’Antonio knows what it’s like being the child of a craftsman because he is one. His father, Antonio D’Antonio, was born in Italy in 1899, and came to America in his twenties. A skilled carpenter, Antonio built the family’s home in Warwick, R.I. with only hand tools. He built his son a dory and taught him how to sail. Carlo’s mother taught him other skills, like sewing.

“My mother, Carmela D’Antonio, was a beautiful seamstress. Dresses and skirts. She could even make a very fine suit.”

Today, Mr. D’Antonio works from home, much like his mother did years ago. A sewing box with compartments for needles, thread and fabrics is displayed alongside chairs he has made and tables of walnut, ash, oak and mahogany.

Restoring his boat Sfogliatelle has been a passion.

Maria Thibodeau

Restoring his boat Sfogliatelle has been a passion.

Maria Thibodeau

Behind the home he shares with partner, Nancy Dole, Mr. D’Antonio has a wood shop. “In the wintertime I’ll settle into my shop. In the summertime I just need to be outside under the sky.”

This summer Mr. D’Antonio worked under the sky repainting and maintaining his Noman’s-style Land Boat, the Sfogliatelle. The Noman’s Land Boats are named for the now uninhabited island off the Vineyard’s southwest coast. One of the only two originals known to exist is on display at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.

“They had a summer community on Noman’s Land in the 1800s and late 1700s over there,” Mr. D’Antonio said. “Noman's didn’t have a safe harbor, so they designed these boats to be pulled up every day after fishing onto these ladders they made, with rollers on them.”

Noman's Land Boats are easily pulled up on shore, and have live wells for caught fish. When Mr. D’Antonio examined his boat he couldn’t help but reminisce.

“When my son Milo was seven we’d sail her to Cuttyhunk and we’d keep lobsters in the bilge just like the boats are meant to, and cook them while we camped. . . Milo was still a little boy when I began building that boat and he’ll be turning 50 soon.”

Mr. D’Antonio began building the Sfogliatelle in 1976 while living in a teepee on the shores of the Tisbury Great Pond. He winterized the large tent by building a yurt style structure inside it, complete with wood flooring and a glass door.

“I built the boat on the pond without electricity so all those planks that you see there were all cut by hand, and all that wood had to be steam bent. . . And I would just boil up water with an open fire, bend the oak for the coaming over it.”

Today both his wood shop and showroom have electricity, but some things never change, said Mr. D’Antonio.

“It is just one board at a time. Always has been.”

To make an appointment, visit carlodantonio.com.