I'm generally not very sappy, but it's kind of a miracle that I've been able to do this full time for five years. I'm not sure if going full time building furniture is the best or worst decision I've ever made. I guess it depends on what day you ask me.
I'm the son of a carpenter who married the daughter of a carpenter and as much as I swore I'd never be one, I became a carpenter. When I got home (very late) from a party the night of my high school graduation there was a tool box full of tools and a card sitting on my bed. The general theme of the card was "we love you, we're proud of you, but you're not screwing around all summer. See you at work on Monday". I did manage to fit an associates in arts degree in between wrestling concrete forms and framing walls after that summer, but the allure of a nice paycheck, a tan, and being able to eat anything and still stay fit convinced me that being a carpenter was going to be an alright path.
Somewhere in the middle of my carpenter's apprenticeship I built my first piece of furniture. I guess it was barely furniture but it was a lot more fun than laying shingles. It was a plate rack I had seen a picture of in a magazine. Soon my Dad (boss) saw that I had an interest in more intricate work and would let me get involved in those types of projects. A mantle, built in bookcases, involved period window trims and things like that. I also had the good fortune to be working with someone at the time who built furniture and had a nice shop. He'd let me come over and screw up his tools and steal his woodworking magazines.
All of my first pieces were painted. I could hide a lot of sins with paint. And it worked because I was living in a 175+ year old house, so distressed, worn paint fit right in. I was still thinking like a carpenter at this time but my interest in traditional furniture making joinery and tools was growing. Building furniture was something I mainly did in the winter, when construction of houses slowed down due to weather. I kind of took over my Dad's shop space (sorry Dad) but I'm grateful I had a place to learn and grow.
Soon friends and family were noticing the things I'd built and commissioning me to build bookshelves, tables, desks, small cabinets and things like that. The reclaimed wood look was coming into fashion and living in a small rural community meant lots of old derelict barns were available to pull wood from. The housing market was crumbling and I found myself laid off from carpentry work more and more. So, for the first time, I was actually starting to draw some actual income from my furniture making hobby.
It was sometime in the late winter of 2012 that I had the ridiculous thought that maybe I could build furniture full time. I actually had a backlog of orders and the housing market in our area was still shaky. My Dad, who I was working for, had an opportunity to work in maintenance in a private hospital. This would've left me to work "out of the hall", essentially if a contractor needed me, they'd call. If not, I'd wait. I didn't much like this prospect. With five kids and a wife counting on me, not working wasn't going to work. So we made it official on April 6th.
I remember sitting at my kitchen table with one of my best friends talking about the prospect of going into furniture making full time. He's more of a business minded "money" guy. I remember him getting pretty excited at the prospects and possibilities of what I was doing. I guess the excitement was contagious. I booked a lot of work that summer. And I tore a barn down (for the lumber) pretty much by hand. That was ridiculous. I starting amassing tools and really digging in to books, magazines, social media sites, blogs, anything I could read or watch to learn the craft. I was obsessed.
I continued to grow. Got a few nice write ups by local papers and did a few art/craft shows. I was working way too much but enjoyed it a lot. The stress of everything started to pile up and panic attacks came. I lost about twenty pounds. I didn't sleep enough and I kind of lost touch with everything else. Friends, hobbies, weekends. Can't fail.
I realized, after a few years of building with almost entirely salvaged materials that at some point the rustic, reclaimed wood wave was going to crash, and I didn't want to be on it. And, I was starting to grow tired of it. Tearing barns down was brutal. Hitting nails with blades was expensive. And, aesthetically I was moving on to more refined designs. We decided to re-name and re-brand. RL Johnson and Sons seemed like a good brand to build around. So we did. And are. I began pushing myself to use more and more substantial joinery. Hoping that what I was building would long outlast me. I figured if any of my boys take over they won't want to be fixing my work.
It's been crazy. Honestly. I once built a big table in 66 hours in barely five days. I can't believe that didn't kill me or that the table looked okay. I sharpened a small screw driver one time because I didn't have a chisel that small and couldn't afford one. We didn't take out a business loan. Maybe we should have. We've used loose change to buy diapers for our babies. Sold guitars when I couldn't scrape together the house payment. Family always helps and encourages us. Friends have been there with advice, encouragement, to photograph and even deliver work. I've built and done things I never thought I could do. I've stood in front of people while they admired my work and tried not to hyperventilate at art shows. Currently I'm trying to salvage a table design that has taken about three weeks longer than I anticipated. I've built it twice now. It's an adventure every day.
I've been advised to hang it up. Or dumb it down and hire cheap labor to build things. But the building is the only part I enjoy. The small victories are what make it worthwhile. I met a guy last week. Total stranger. He was admiring a young family with six kids (rare I guess). Of course the "what do you do?" question came up. When I said I made furniture and that it was, "a great life but a hard living" he looked me right in the eye and said, "you're not making any money because you're in love with it". And he was right. I do what I love every single day. I never feel like I need a weekend or a holiday or a vacation. We're figuring out the money stuff. I'm just glad I figured out what makes me come alive.
