Two Books Are Enough?

I got my most important lesson in running a woodworking business when I was starting in the craft in the 1990s.

My neighbor, Ed, had heard about a guy who sold wood – any species – for $1 a board foot in the wilds of Indiana. So, one day after work we drove out to the guy’s farm in my Volvo station wagon with a wad of cash.

It turned out the owner of the farm was a professional furniture maker and was about my dad’s age. He had three or four employees, a sawmill and the biggest collection of Grizzly machinery I had ever seen outside of a Grizzly catalog.

There was a lot of work in progress in the shop. Parts neatly piled on carts. Partial assemblies stacked by the wall.

We met him in his office in the front of the shop. It was your typical setup: computer, printer, desk and a beat-up chair – all covered in a fine film of sawdust. On the left wall was a bookcase. I don’t remember what else was on the bookcase because I immediately fixated on the two paperback woodworking books sitting ther…