In this interview, Bob Schafer, a wood craftsman whose products are sold at the Pueblo, Colo., home supply store Woodcraft, talks about the value of his wood-carving business.
How did you get into wood? You know how the story goes. You get a little interest in wood; you do a little research online and you come across one of these free magazines; you pick it up and you read the articles written by folks like Mike Green, and you learn more about it; and then you come to the store and you see this product, and you go, “This looks interesting”—and that’s when you really get into it.
Were you really motivated to make these projects before you heard people saying that DIY woodworking is one of the coolest hobbies ever!
You know, I probably wouldn’t have had a fascination with woodcraft otherwise. My sister is a woodworker; my mother is a woodworker. When I did my own project that was around two years ago, I’d heard enough about that to get intrigued.
I bought myself a bunch of books; I went on a woodworking and woodworking website. I read the books. I went online and watched videos and watched shows. I went to local trade showings and I went down to the shop.
I went to the store and bought myself books on woodworking.
We talk in this interview how you have all kinds of projects, from the simplest ones, like making a table saw that’s just a piece of wood, to the most complex ones, like the one you’re working on now. What’s your goal with your woodworking equipment?
I think, in nature, we’re working with materials, and if you can figure out what we need, what you need to do, then you can be able to apply that principle and work with the materials.
The one thing I do like more than any other piece of equipment in my shop is the millery. I would have to say that for a workstation machine, the more I work with that, the better I like my toolkit.
I like to have the ability to make small projects at any size. Even something like making a piece or two of a lathe. They’re both fairly small and easy to operate. I would say that for the most part I love the millery.
In recent years, the whole DIY movement has really gained momentum. It seems to have been more
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