I’m Starting a Woodworking Business With a Rough Old Shop and a Few Basic Tools
I guess there’s no better way to start this than to just say it: I’m putting myself out there.
This is the beginning of a brand-new venture for me. A new shop. A new YouTube channel. A new woodworking business. And honestly, a new challenge that has me both excited and a little nervous.
I’m not starting this from some polished, professional workshop with every tool known to man. I’m starting with a rough 35-by-60-foot building, a handful of basic tools, a whole lot of cleanup ahead of me, and just enough woodworking experience to know I still have a lot to learn.
But that’s kind of the point.
I’m going to document the whole process — the progress, the mistakes, the wins, the failures, and hopefully the transformation of this old building into a working shop and eventually a real woodworking business.
And if you’re new to woodworking, thinking about starting something of your own, or just enjoy watching somebody try to figure things out in real time, I hope you’ll follow along.
Why I’m Getting Into Woodworking
I’m still pretty new to woodworking, but I do come from a family where building and working with your hands was always around me.
My grandfather did a lot of woodworking. My dad did some woodworking and carpentry, but he was really more of a jack-of-all-trades kind of guy. He could work on cars, fix things, build things, and generally figure stuff out. My brother builds houses, so that practical, hands-on ability definitely runs in the family.
For whatever reason, I just never really got deep into woodworking myself.
I’ve always enjoyed working with my hands. I’ve always liked building things. But most of my actual career has been spent building things digitally.
My background is in communications, websites, social media, video editing, and content creation. In other words, a whole lot of time staring at a computer screen.
And that’s really one of the biggest reasons woodworking started appealing to me.
I needed something that got me away from the screen. Something hands-on. Something that let me use my creativity in a different way. I love hunting and fishing and being outdoors, but woodworking has become one of those things that lets me slow down, think, create, and de-stress all at the same time.
The more I messed with it, the more I realized I really enjoyed it.
So I finally decided: why not try to turn this into something more?
Why not try to build a business around it — and document the whole thing along the way?
The Shop I’m Starting With
The shop is both the exciting part and the terrifying part.
It’s a 35-by-60-foot building sitting on a little over 11 acres we recently bought next door to our house. We already had about 15 acres, so when this property became available, we jumped on it.
Truthfully, I bought the property for the land.
The shop was just a bonus.
But it also ended up being the push I probably needed to take this woodworking idea more seriously.
Now, when I say “shop,” don’t picture some clean, well-lit dream workshop with French cleats on the wall and dust collection running everywhere.
This place is rough.
The outside needs work. The roof definitely needs replacing. Some of the sheathing needs to be replaced. The fascia needs attention. There are holes in places where holes shouldn’t be. There’s an old chimney that needs to come down. There are sections of the roof and structure that I’m going to have to figure out as I go.
But the building has a good foundation, and it has a ton of potential.
And that’s what I’m trying to focus on.
Before I Can Build, I Have to Clean
When we first closed on the property, the building was packed full of junk.
I’m talking decades’ worth of stuff. Household junk, old car parts, plumbing supplies, PVC fittings, random scrap, wood, tires, and who knows what else.
Part of the building had been used for working on cars. The other side had been part of a plumbing business. There are still pipes, fittings, and random materials all over the place.
Thankfully, some of it had already been cleaned out through an estate sale and by someone hauling off scrap metal. But there is still a lot to do.
The plan is to bring in dumpsters, use my father-in-law’s tractor with the front-end loader, and start getting the place cleared out enough that I can really see what I’m working with.
That’s probably going to be one of the first big steps in this whole process: not building furniture, not setting up fancy tools, but just cleaning up the mess.
It’s not glamorous, but it has to happen.
What I Have to Work With So Far
As far as tools go, I’m starting pretty basic.
I don’t have a professional shop full of high-end equipment. I’ve got a few tools I picked up cheap, a few I inherited or borrowed, and some basic hand tools.
Right now, that includes:
- A borrowed sliding compound miter saw from my father-in-law
- An older Black & Decker miter saw I picked up for around $25 on Facebook Marketplace
- A Ryobi table saw I found for around $75 on Facebook Marketplace
- A hand sander
- A jigsaw
- A Ryobi cordless screwdriver
- A brad nailer
- A small air compressor
- Framing squares and basic layout tools
That’s not a dream setup, but it’s enough to get started.
And honestly, that’s part of what I hope makes this interesting.
I’m not trying to pretend I’m a master woodworker with a fully stocked shop. I’m starting where I am. If somebody watches this and thinks, “Well, if that guy can do it, maybe I can too,” I’m perfectly fine with that.
That may actually be the whole point.
My First Paid Woodworking Orders
Even though I’m just getting started, I already have my first two paid orders.
They’re nothing huge or fancy. I’m building a couple of cedar picket planters.
I’ve been making a few small projects lately just to get practice — squirrel feeder picnic tables, bird feeders, planters, and a few other simple builds. Some of those have gone to family and friends, and some have just been learning projects.
The cedar picket planters are the first things someone is actually paying me to build.
Are they groundbreaking? No.
Everybody and their brother seems to be making cedar picket planters these days.
But that’s okay. It’s a start.
The first couple I built were practice runs, and I already know there are things I want to improve on the paid versions. That’s part of the process. Build one, learn from it, build the next one better.
What I’ve Already Learned the Hard Way
I’ve already messed some things up.
One project I was really excited about was a wavy wooden American flag. I had it going pretty well, and I was proud of how it was turning out — right up until I messed up the stars and the paint behind them.
Then I tried to fix it.
And made it worse.
That’s woodworking, apparently.
You get in a hurry, you make a mistake, and sometimes your “quick fix” turns into a bigger problem than the original mistake.
But I learned from it, and I still want to make one of those flags. I’ll come back to it eventually.
Facebook Marketplace, Word of Mouth, and Getting Started
So far, I haven’t had a ton of luck selling on Facebook Marketplace.
That may change as I build better products, take better photos, and figure out what people actually want to buy. But right now, the first orders have come through word of mouth and posting on my personal Facebook page.
And honestly, that makes sense.
When you’re just getting started, your first customers are probably going to be people who already know you, trust you, or want to support what you’re trying to build.
From there, hopefully the work improves, the product line gets better, and the business starts growing beyond just friends and family.
That’s the goal anyway.
Why I’m Documenting This
Starting a YouTube channel and putting all of this out there is partly exciting and partly terrifying.
But I think that accountability is good.
If I say publicly that I’m going to try to turn this rough old shop into a woodworking business, then I have a little extra motivation to keep going.
And if I fall flat on my face, well, I guess you’ll get to see that too.
But I hope that doesn’t happen.
I hope over time you’ll see progress — in the shop, in my skills, in the projects I build, and in the business itself.
I’m sure it won’t be smooth. I’m sure there will be mistakes. I’m sure there will be days where I wonder what in the world I got myself into.
But I’m also sure I’ll learn a lot.
And maybe somebody else will be encouraged to start something they’ve been putting off.
The Plan From Here
The first big job is getting this shop cleaned out and usable.
After that, I’ll start figuring out the roof, the layout, the tool setup, and how to turn part of this building into a functional woodworking space.
At the same time, I’ll be building small projects, taking on paid orders when I can, and learning how to actually run this as a business.
I don’t know exactly where this will go yet.
But I do know this: I’m starting.
And sometimes that’s the hardest part.
So if you’re interested in woodworking, small business, shop renovation, DIY projects, or just watching a regular guy try to build something from the ground up, I’d love to have you follow along.
We’ll see where this thing goes.