“I Don’t Know Why …”
Fine, the title of this post is snarky. “I don’t know why (enter said hobbyists here) don’t do this” is an oversaturated influencer meme meant to grab the attention of folks looking to acquire or refine skills in the way many of us do such things these days: YouTube. I want to clear the air about how our approach to woodworking differs from what’s readily available as YouTube instructionals, Etsy offerings, and the like.
Handmade goods are precisely that: handmade. The goal isn’t to mimic mass-machine-made products. We give hugs and kisses to little imperfections that reflect the handmade care we provide to our items, as long as they’re consistent with the quality we promise in terms of durability and design. If someone wants fully automated, machine-style goods, they can go to IKEA or any number of “crafters” who rely on CNC robots to do the work for them. Our aim is to blend modern styles with a more old-world sensibility.
To be clear, we’ve learned a great deal from online woodworkers. After you clean your boots off from the slop of paid endorsements and advertisement-oriented recommendations, after the hoopla about turning a $3 Home Depot 2x4 board into a thousand-dollar profit by making and selling Americana country-chic junk, there’s good wisdom and experience out there. The problem is more nuanced than that, and you’ll be the judge of whether it happens to us.
We’ve watched umpteen YouTube woodworkers start from scratch, in terms of skill and equipment, using earnest aspirations and solid communication skills to build sustainable businesses from advertising commissions and Etsy (etc.) sales. Almost invariably, their shops move to larger locations. They acquire unattainably expensive machinery. In time, they’re showing you how to program a computer to make a thing for you. That’s not how we at ECW want to do things.
If you want machine-made wood products, you’ll find them on Etsy and elsewhere. If you want heirloom handmade products that someone sweated bullets over to make just right, that’s what we’re here to do.
Sure, we’ll personalize your stuff with a laser etcher or a CNC if you like, but when it comes to the construction, we’ll keep it simple.
