How to do you make a career out of woodworking?

[Rick Cicciarelli]

So I have come to a cross roads in my life and I feel I am being shown the door (to leave) in my current path. One hobby that I've always loved was woodworking, but I am curious how one takes it to the next level and makes a living at it? Do you open a shop and sell fine furniture in a retail setting? Are you doing special order work for folks in a private setting..i.e. carpentry work? Do you make the most from teaching classes? I am just curious how the folks that do this for a living, actually make enough money from it to pay the bills? What are you doing and what have you found to be the most lucrative niche?

[keith ouellette]

some one on this forum, I don't remember who, used a line from an Clint Eastwood movie to answer a very similar question. The line, to para phrase, was ' starving ain't much of a way to make a living'

[David Keller NC]

Rick - Keith has it right. It is not possible to make even a very spare living in woodworking, particularly in the current economic environment. Those that actually do make a living at it are either a) primarily teaching, with a bit of furniture making on the side, b) making boxes out of sheet goods - in other words, kitchen cabinets, c) have been doing it for a good 20 years and are quite famous.

There's a fourth category, and that's someone that is very young (early 20's), has no possessions to speak of, no mortgage, no debt, a rented shop, and no expectations.

All of that said, you can certainly make money on the side, but it will not be enough to live on unless you're in an incredibly low cost of living area.

[Larry Edgerton]

The most lucrative niche? I didn't know there was one of those.

I suppose it would be different in an urban area, but it has been about 30 years of struggle interspursed with about five good years for me.

[Dave Lehnert]

Funny I was just thinking last night as I was working on a jewelery box. If I had to charge a hourly rate building that thing I would have to get $800 for it just to make a living. I would be hard pressed to sell it for $80-$100.

[keith ouellette]

It was one of the many great lines from "The Outlaw Josey Wales" One of my favorites to this day.

I am self employed and wish and pray all the time that I could make a living doing wood working. My dream is to build custom book cases. I have never really made a book case (I'm still new to the hobby).

I know one person who makes his sole living (other than his wife's income) as a wood worker. He is very skilled and has always worked out of his house. He builds anything and everything from furniture to kitchen cabinets. He supplements his income by doing handy man work. he doesn't seem to starve.

I hope you make it work.

[Mark Roderick]

Win the lottery.

[Russ Sears]

I'm reminded of a line from Chi Chi Rodgriquez, the golfer. He said "My wife's a wonderful woman. She made me a millionaire. I used to be a multimillionaire".

[keith ouellette]

Rick; All joking aside i am very interested in this subject.

Do you have other skills, like the friend I mentioned who does handy work, that could help keep you busy.

I forgot to mention that my friend seems to be very fast at everything he does. He is un common that way and it must make a difference.

[Dave Cav]

I'm one of the guys that went the teaching route. Short story is I traded a 30+ career in facilities management to teach high school shop. Downside is I took about a 40% cut in pay, and I spend six hours a day with 15 year old kids. Upside is a good amount of time off, and I get paid to improve my skills. It's a great job and I'm glad I did it. I plan to do it for the next ten to twelve years or so (assuming the economy doesn't cause the programs to be eliminated) and in the meantime I plan to use my breaks and summers to improve my furniture building skills and build a portfolio that I can use to try to get some custom work and then expand that into a retirement job. I am under no illusions as to being able to support myself by doing woodworking.

[Jason Roehl]

First, you have to break out of the insane asylum...

[frank shic]

the most profitable way to make money out of woodworking would be building kitchen cabinets but that requires a good size investment in industrial grade tools as well as experience and then you have to compete with all the existing custom shops and the borgs. the hardest part is finding the right customers (family and friends are not going to pay the bills for long) unless you happen to have really wealthy friends. furniture building doesn't seem to be very profitable unless you build gallery style pieces or reproduction furniture. i'm quite content to let my hobby remain a hobby while i continue contributing to my 401k through my day job!

[Mark Bolton]

While everything posted (other than the flat out "your nuts") is credible but in my opinion it all depends on a multitude of factors. Far too many to just say it "is" or "isnt" possible.

How much money do you need to earn? Who will be your average customer? Retail? Wholesale? Both? Will you have to rent a space or buy? And many many more.

I think a living could easily be made in woodworking. That said some factors may make it very hard. If you have a 2k/mo mortgage and all the associated geegaws, kids heading for college, no or few tools, limited experience and knowledge, and so forth.

That said, if you were smart enough to live a pay as you go life and arent in hock up to your eyeballs, have reasonable expectations for income, a high tolerance for grief, dont have to pay an arm an a leg for shop space, flexible in your work habbits, I could go on, its absolutely possible. Will you be driving around in a brand new humV, no.

My personal feeling is we are coming into a time when people may have to recalibrate what it is to live the American dream. Whether or not they are able live on what they earn is completely dependent on many of these issues.

I have been getting a general feeling that well crafted items that will last may be on the upswing. Its just a feeling and I dont think it will cut into WM's bottom line but when your working in somewhat of a cottage industry you can make a modest living off the scraps until you get established.

Its definitely not an easy path, but going out on your own doing anything isnt easy.

Mark

[Will Blick]

Nothing like a strong does of reality!

As often in life, Reality Bites.

When I see how high-volume wood products are made, I can fully understand why they sell so cheap....virtually no labor involved...these machines see and remove defects in the wood, dimension it, sand it, finish it, etc. etc. In the end, you often have a bunch of parts that can be assembled / glued in jigs very quickly... considering machines run 24/7 with no health care or sick time, the cost to make a product is so low vs. a person doing all this the ol fashion way....

or....you have the other end of the market... where more fine art intricate ww products, like jewelry boxes are made by child laborers making pennies.... sure the quality can be better, but its mind boggling this stuff can retail for $30 - $70 on avg. Welcome to the free world...

IMO, these two issues really changed the mindset of "value" of many ww products. Hence why custom made products, such as built-ins, crown molding, etc. will always escape the two issues above, and be done the ol fashion way... So if was to ever consider making a living, that would be the only aveneue, and even then, competition would be high and its hard breaking in any new busienss. Cabinets fall into the 50/50 range, since the BORG's have adapted mass produced ready to install boxes... But anymore, to seel cabinets, it often pays to have a nice showroom like the Borgs where the customer can see everything, touch it, view computer images of slight changes, etc. etc. Not easy for the small timer...

[Russ Boyd]

I do mostly finish work in new homes. That is kind of woodworking. The good thing is I am on the job and jump in when the people start talking built-ins, etc.. Now that's real woodworking. I also do basements, kitchens etc.. All of these thinks involve woodworking and can lead to the things you really want to do. I don't make a killing, but have been in business for 30 years. Must be doing something right. Now is not a good time, but like others have said, if you are young enough and/or have a low overhead, then you might have a shot. Good luck, Russ