Nate Matlack: Matlack Fine Woodworking

 

“I got started when I was like 12.

My dad gave me a pocket knife so I could start carving stuff because I was probably bothering him. But after that I just kind of kept carving just when I was bored and in high school, took a furniture class, and learned how to do traditional kind of joinery, low-level stuff, but still an entry point.”

• Nate Matlack

 

Welcome to a brand-new episode of The Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere sits down with Nate Matlack, the owner of Matlack Fine Woodworking. Nate started his woodworking journey with a pocket knife given to him by his father to carve things and keep him out of trouble. He shares what he spends most of his time doing and walks us through his marketing strategy. Despite his humble beginnings, Nate advanced his carving in high school, where he took furniture-making classes, gaining skills that would earn him woodworking gigs. He gives us insight into what growth looks like and some of the challenges he faces in the industry. Tune in for more details!

 

“Basically, I was posting projects I was working on, and then people started asking if they could buy them. I started doing custom orders for people, not just stuff I was making.

 

Being good at all these other things can help you be good at woodworking. They all feed into each other. So, I don’t want to specialize in anything too much because with the sculptural, I think it works out that I know how to do things like bent lamination. I have all the technical skills from furniture making to make an actual solid thing. It gives me a lot more ability to do higher-level pieces.”

 

• Nate Matlack

 

 

 

 

Nate’s Perfect Carvings for Clients

 

Although clients might have what they want in their minds, Nate has experienced a different set of clients who, upon seeing his carvings change their minds and decide to have what is already there since it’s made to their liking. He also believes that recreating some of his past carvings to meet the client’s requirements is something he is always ready to do. With most of his clients purchasing the carvings for interior designs and others as gifts, he believes that those are the people who keep him afloat.

 

“I do a lot of stuff on spec. I always build in time for a project for myself because people don’t come to me frequently with ideas and say, “I want this.” They put out some perfect vision of what they’re imagining, but they’ll see something I’ve already made and they’ll say, “I want that.” Initially it was 30 to 60-year-old men who were hunters or fishermen or outdoorsmen. Then it turned into the wives of those men who are the ones who reach out to me most frequently.

 

Want to get in touch with Nate Matlack?

 

Instagram: @matlackfinewoodworking