From a previous post that really says it all…
“The reality is two-fold: Real furniture-making woodworkers, working alone, making one of a kind commissions are very few and far between. Secondly; they burn out early. Even those that do succeed rarely fit the myth/stereotype. Often obsessive compulsive, narrowly focused, heavily marketed, or just plain lucky is the norm. Transitory may describe others. The conditions that lead to their (short term) success also lead to their early demise. Those same conditions are also hard for an aspiring craftsman to duplicate in an effort to assure the best chance of success.”
That would be me.
70 years old. Working alone. Making one-of-a-kind commissions or spec pieces when orders are slow. Obsessive/compulsive and often cantakerous. Low tolerance for stupidity. I flat refuse to work for people I don’t like. Some months I make real good money and, once in a while, I don’t make anything. Over an average year my shop turns a modest profit and I don’t owe a cent to anybody. I don’t buy anything I can’t pay for with cash or trade. My marketing is strictly by referal. I guarantee to repair or replace everything I make though I’ve been lucky with very few call-backs. I may not have many years left in the trade but I plan to enjoy every minute of it.
John Milne
Old Fox Woodworks
Replies
Demeaner
Hey John -
Don't be surprised to find out that you're a perfectly normal woodworker. I would guess more here are exactly like you then the minority.
Quick question - were you always this way or did you slowly develop this charm ?
SA
I thought that OF stood for
Old Fart, but i see that it stands for old fox. good for you John. how long have you been at it?. you sound like a man true to my heart. i am right behind you at 66 and look forward to working tomorrow. I was labelled in an exhibition cataloque for an ehibition that I had at the then Canadian Craft Musuem a dozen years ago. this was written by a friend. "as a craft advocate, he is a commanding zealot. As an adversary he can be a volatile, cantankeous reprobate; and as a friend he is an attentive raconteur.". there are some on here who may agree in part with some of it. i think that you will find perhps more than a few eccentrics in this trade.
ron
Stand up young guns
Well I might as well put in my two cents as a young (25) woodworker making my go at this. I've been working wood since my father gave me an old eggbeater drill to play with while he worked in the shop - I was 5 at the time and that was my magic moment, I knew I wanted to build things for the rest of my life. I still have that piece of wood with my first hole drilled in it.
He was a carpenter and so I followed in his footsteps, working weekends, summers and after school to help the family business. We covered all the bases, as many small outfits do, from framing to roofing, drywall, finish trim and everything in between. After high school I attended vocational college to get that "paper" that proves I know what I know, as my father put it. It was sometime in the last 6-7 years that I started to make the transition from carpentry to woodworking, with the feeling that I wanted to build comfortable, meaningful pieces to fill these homes that I had made.
I have seen what it means to work till the day you die and barely make ends meet - its happened to family and friends alike. I am well aware of the difficulties in being a stand alone furniture maker, and I can't say I have a foolproof plan for success - there are many problems I don't have the answers for (read health insurance). Its more of a heading that I want to take with my life and I'm prepared to make whatever sacrifices it takes to get there.
Now with all that said, when the economy took a dive in 07-08' I had to find other employment because the market in my area almost completely dried up. So I took a job with a large company to give me the insurance I need and I make furniture in any spare time I can. Incidentally, working at this company provided a captive audience for my work and business has been booming - I put out 2-3 pieces a month and that generates enough money to fill the gas tank and keep my student loans at bay. I have found, as my father and a previous poster did, that word of mouth is the best advertising. Nothing beats having a truly satisfied customer push your work and name - its more effective than any ads I've placed so far.
I don't plan on getting rich with this, but it is vital that I love what I do. That may change in time, but I doubt it - this is in my blood.
I do woodwork because I enjoy it, I enjoy the creation and I enjoy having pieces which are unique in their creation.
I have had many requests for commission pieces and many questions about why I don't pursue it as a full time career.
A long successful career in both Engineering and Business has taught me reality though.
Reality is that today the ability to sell something and a lot of that something is worth several times more than technical skill, when it comes to income. The ability to manage people towards making that something competitively and having the sales and marketing behind it to sell, is worth a thousand times more than technical skill.
Unfortunately today, I realise that somewhere in Asia, there are many craftsmen available, who can copy anything I make, for a wage less than $1.00 per hour and turn it into mass production, using cheap stained wood and it would sell for less than the cost of my lumber. This is because most people do not know the difference.
In short, life is too precious to use my time making pieces other than gifts, for someone else. There is not enough time to do all the things I enjoy to the full, of which woodwork is only one.
I do know a few people though, who do not endure the corporate politics I have to live in and they do make a decent living making unique pieces and cabinet work. But for them it has also become a job like mine, dealing with the day to day peaks and valleys that life present to us.
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