Quiet Elegance Press Release
Woodworker goes online with business
By Cristian Carlson, Sun Newspapers
(Created 4/19/00 12:33:56 PM)
Some entrepreneurs, particularly those in e-commerce, are in business to make a lot of money quickly. Some aren’t. David Schneider of Eden Prairie is in the latter category.
Schneider, a woodturner, has a Web site, where he sells bowls, pens and birdhouses.
After working 35 years for Northern States Power, Schneider turned a stress-relieving hobby into a part-time business.
“I didn’t retire to make money,” Schneider said. “I worked 35 years where you had to get a job done. Now, I don’t have to get anything done, but when you see people appreciate what you do, it makes a big difference.”
Schneider began woodturning in 1994 as a hobby to relieve stress from his job at NSP in research and development. Woodturning is taking a piece of wood, with the bark still on it, and turning it into a bowl, pen or birdhouse.
Woodturning is not a business that lends itself to a quick turnout of product, as each individual piece takes a minimum of one year from the time the tree is cut down until it is a finished product.
Schneider cuts down 80 to 90 percent of the wood he uses. When the tree has been freshly cut and is green, Schneider will cut a piece of wood across the pith, or center. Then he places the wood on a lathe and begins turning it into whatever he wants it to be.
After its first time on a lathe, a piece of wood will be placed in a bag to dry for six months. When those six months are over, the wood will be taken out of the bag and placed on a shelf to dry for another six months. Both steps make the wood lighter and stronger.
When the year is over, the wood is ready to be turned on the lathe until it is a finished product.
The bowls can run in size from cereal bowls to large salad bowls. Pens turned on Schneider’s lathe resemble those made by Mont Blanc and can come complete with either a fountain style or a roller ball. His birdhouses are the right size for wrens and chickadees, which are both nesting birds.
Schneider has turned the basement of his home into a workshop and storage facility. On a typical day, Schneider goes down to his shop after breakfast and works until early afternoon. Schneider does this six or seven days a week. But he denies that his work is all consuming.
“If I wanted to stay busy 12 hours a day, I could,” Schneider said. “That’s not the main reason. A person gets a lot of satisfaction of seeing people appreciate their work.”
Schneider’s work is on display at the Clay, Wood and Fiber Gallery in Taos, N.M., and the Sugar Creek Gallery in Chaska.
It was at the urging of his wife, Diane, and sister-in-law that Schneider decided to carve out a Web site. After buying the software, Schneider built the site himself.
Despite his foray into e-commerce, Schneider’s business still comes mainly through word of mouth.
Often, people will come to Schneider and ask him to cut down a tree on their property and make something out of it, he said.
“Say a person had a tree in their backyard that had to come down,” Schneider said. “Then I’ll go over there and take a piece for remembrance.”
Schneider also teaches woodturning.
“Right now, I have seven people that I’m teaching,” he said. “Three are in a group, and then some other people I teach individually.”
Without the support of his wife, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy his part-time business, Schneider said.
“I have the best wife in the world,” he said. “I am really lucky, she’s very supportive.”
Diane Schneider concurred.
“He doesn’t know how lucky he is,” she said with a smile on her face. “No, it goes both ways. I’m pretty luck too. It keeps him out of trouble. It keeps him happy. I can’t complain.”
To learn more about Schneider’s woodturning or to take a class, call 952-934-4667. His site can be reached at DJSchneider.com
