从原木到客厅:Wm的Will Walker. 沃克有限公司.

Will Walker is a furniture maker and sawyer; however, 听到他的故事后, 企业家也是一个非常合适的头衔. Will's creative spirit and entrepreneurial mindset have driven him to identify and pursue business opportunities which span multiple industries. He has even built a substantial following on YouTube where he educates viewers from around the world while demonstrating his craftsmanship, 专业知识和激情. 

威尔是帮他爸爸长大的, 总承包商, 建造房屋, 他在哪里获得了日后会派上用场的宝贵技能. 在高中时，他也对摄影产生了热情. He attended art school at Virginia Commonwealth University where he fostered his craft for photography. 他在木工店度过了他的空闲时间. 在里士满当摄影师学徒之后, 威尔回到了他的家乡夏洛茨维尔, 他于2006年开始了自己的摄影事业, 他在那里拍摄婚礼, 肖像, 为报纸写的故事, 企业活动等. 

晚些时候, Will met his wife and decided to build a house on the family farm in the beautiful countryside of Albemarle County. Since Will still enjoyed 木工, when he built his home, he knew he wanted to add a workshop. 当他们的第一个孩子即将出生时, 预产期前后，他暂停了拍摄婚礼活动. 有了更多的空闲时间, Will decided to stand on the other side of the camera for a change and began documenting the process of building his shop and posting the videos to YouTube. 他认为这可能会在当地招揽一些生意, but he soon learned that people around the world were interested in what he had to say and eager to follow his journey. 所以，Wm的冒险. 沃克有限公司. 2015年开始.

自2015年以来，威尔的粉丝已经增长到近8万人 YouTube，有超过1.1万名粉丝 Instagram. 可以在@wmwalkerco上找到他(也可以在前面的中心找到链接). +, check out one of his recent YouTube videos at the bottom of this blog article in which he shares his story and creates a three-legged plant stand out of Cherry and Maple using staked furniture techniques.

威尔一头扎进了家具制作, 他开始采购硬木，但很快发现通常很难买到. 他开始和自己锯木头的社区成员一起工作，不久之后, 他有机会在2020年购买自己的锯木厂. 这使威尔能够找到风暴期间掉落的日志, trees that were destroyed by pests (including ash trees which have been destroyed by the Emerald Ash Borer across Virginia and other states) and trees that people were having removed and would otherwise have been burned. 在这一点上，威尔开始看到这个行业有很大的潜力. 

“I started milling and realized that there was a whole lot of interest in the wood that I was milling in addition to the furniture that I was making,威尔想。. 他开始出售自己从这些打捞上来的硬木木材, 大多是倒下或不需要的树木，需求量很大. 

随着需求的增加，对一个更大的锯木厂的需求也在增加. 威尔开始寻找产能更大的锯木厂，但需要一个地方来安置锯木厂, 于是他转向他的朋友, 泰勒皮平. 泰勒 is a farmer who offered to house the larger mill on his property to help Will in his endeavors. 当威尔在疫情最严重的时候，他在研究一个更大的锯木厂的选择, he learned the wait times were tremendous (upwards of one to two years) and financing options were slim from traditional banks. 会的朋友, 泰勒, has been a Farm Credit customer-owner since he was 22 and suggested Will reach out to the cooperative. 威尔给夏洛茨维尔分部打过电话吗, explained that he was looking to purchase a used sawmill (pictured below) and Farm Credit made it happen.

“农业信贷使这一过程变得简单而无痛. 他们了解我们需要的工具和设备。. Will credits the speed of financing he received from Farm Credit in the summer of 2023 as being key to his operation and being able to get up and running with the new sawmill. 在买下他的新锯木厂之后, 威尔有能力锯长21英尺的原木，切出48英寸的切口, whereas he could only mill logs that were 14 feet long and make 21 inch cuts with his original mill. 新工厂也是可移动的, so Will and 泰勒 can take it to farms or other rural properties to pick up the timber where it is.

“I’m pretty passionate about sustainably harvested hardwoods and taking the wood through its lifecycle from log to living room,威尔说. 他喜欢带着他的客户一起旅行, 告诉他们树是从哪里来的, 是什么物种, 为什么它会下来，然后分享切割的过程, 用电吹风, 窑干，最后加工，创造他们的梦想的桌子或橱柜. 该公司的业务分为Wm旗下的定制委托家具. 沃克有限公司. 标签和锯木过程, 其中包括向其他家具制造商和木工销售木材, 属于大熊木材公司吗, 威尔和泰勒的合作关系. 定制家具需要更长的时间才能完成, so the lumber sales originated as a way to make supplemental income during the longer build process of the custom furniture (which can take 14-16 weeks in a perfect scenario, 从地上的树到家里的桌子). 然而, the hardwoods Will harvests and mills have become so popular that those projects now take up about 60% of his time, 而海关佣金约占40%. 

Will works with a local friend and fellow sawyer to source other sustainably harvested lumber for his custom commissioned projects when he can’t meet those needs with his own supply. His friend also has a kiln where the lumber is dried to the correct moisture content and then stored on the property in an old barn that has been retrofitted as a wood storage facility. 硬木在整个干燥过程中价值增加, 所以木板干燥的时间越长, 它就越有价值, 在理论上. 

通过在木工社区的网络, Will找到了对不同产品感兴趣的不同买家, 新鲜切的, 绿色木材到一件完整的家具. Will has repeat customers who return time and time again because they value the quality of the lumber. 威尔和泰勒未来的计划包括建造他们自己的窑炉, storage outbuildings and retail barn to serve as a showroom when clients visit to pick out wood for furniture pieces or to purchase for their own projects.

Will shared, “Right now I’m working on a solid walnut dining table for a couple in Charlottesville. 他们可以出来捡木材, 当我们切桌面的木板时, 我们把它们按顺序排列. 所以当你打开它, 这就是所谓的“书本比赛”,这意味着木头会在桌面上反射自己.”

当被问及他最喜欢的业务方面是什么时, 威尔用他在艺术学校学到的一个词来回答, “Gestalt is when the sum of all of the added parts are greater than the individual parts themselves. It’s the idea of taking a tree that would otherwise rot in the ground or be burned for heat and giving it a second life as a beautiful, 功能性家具.”

当威尔完成一件作品的时候, 他把自己的烙印烙在它的背面, 然后他会签字, 日期和添加木材种类, 也,泰勒说。. “One thing that resonates with me about what Will is doing is that he is crafting these quality pieces that will hopefully outlive him and leave a legacy for the generations to come.”

Will and 泰勒’s advice to young people looking to break into the 木工 or sawmill industry is to find someone who knows a lot and is willing to share that knowledge. “听听那些已经做了很长时间的人的意见，试着去热爱你所做的事情. 如果你没有乐趣，那就不值得去做。”威尔说. 

Will’s dad served as a great mentor during his formative early years when Will helped 建造房屋. Will also worked under a cabinetmaker when he was a young photographer getting started who taught him everything there was to know about cabinetmaking and served as a valuable mentor, 也. 威尔甚至喜欢向“老大师”学习,几个世纪前的家具制造商, 通过读书和学习他们的手艺. 几个世纪前的许多作品至今仍然存在, 所以这些制造商知道他们在做什么, 其中一些方法今天仍然可以付诸实践. 如果你问问题, 倾听答案，并愿意亲自动手, older generations love to share their wisdom – and there is much to be gained from their experiences. 

了解更多关于Wm的信息. 沃克有限公司.: http://www.wmwalkerco.com/

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