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Steven Stivers says he feels lucky that his woodworking hobby became an actual side business for his family. And the fact his son, Avery, decided to join in has been a priceless experience.

The two make original and custom designs as Stivers Woodworks, using all reclaimed wood from the family farm, or sometimes using materials customers bring in.

Steven says it was just a hobby for him; he grew up “always nailing boards together” on the family farm. “Probably really started for me around high school age — I took shop.”

Eventually, he took over the shop at his parents’ house, then asked his grandmother if he could move his materials into an old building she had.

“That’s still my shop now. I bought my grandparents’ farm,” he says.

Steven had always wanted a lathe — a machine tool used for shaping wood or metal, but didn’t think he really had the need to make such a purchase. Then his wife Belinda surprised him with one as a gift.

He started by making bowls, and “turned out a few, but the first dozen or so were just plain terrible,” Steven says and laughs. But he got the hang of it, and began making them for Christmas gifts.

“By the next year, I had 35 or 40 laying around, and Belinda’s like ‘do the Harvest Showcase, it’s free.’ I’m like, nobody’s going to buy my stuff.”

Steven was surprised — he did pretty well, and sold several bowls and cutting boards.

“It really got me excited, so I continued and did more. Then I joined the art guild and got more shows,” he says. “Now I’m making rolling pins, bowls, spoons, cutting boards …” with most made out of tobacco sticks, what he calls “a fan favorite.”

Then Avery walked into the shop one day, Steven says, “and started playing.” But Avery had a plan all along; he wanted to work in his dad’s shop as a part of his SAE, a “Supervised Agricultural Experience,” required to be completed by all students in ag classes at Henry County High School. 

The work-based program is designed to give kids a chance to apply classroom principles in the real world. 

Avery has been in FFA (Future Farmers of America) since he was a freshman. He says that due to the help of FFA advisor Lindsey Davie, he was awarded grants through the National FFA Organization, which helped him pay for new tools he used to expand the woodworking business.

“My idea was to do this as a business, along with my dad,” Avery says. He had to complete the SAE grant application, and periodically report back to his advisor who checks on business records, for example, to make sure everything’s on board and up to date. 

Avery says he learned valuable lessons about budgeting, organization and even managing a hectic schedule. He also plays multiple sports, and juggles his woodworking schedule with school and practice. 

“He’s pretty level-headed,” Steven says about Avery. “It’s pretty cool to work with him, pretty neat. He’s busy though, but when we get down there and work together — it’s pretty neat.”

In 2020, Stivers Woodworks opened up shop on Facebook, mostly due to the pandemic, Steven says. "That really took off, with the custom orders," and created a lot of feedback about posted pictures.

Rolling pins and cutting boards are still big sellers, he says, mostly made of tobacco sticks, and other items are made out of oak, poplar, walnut and sometimes cherry, when they can find it, “and maybe some sassafras, it’s pretty neat. When they all come together with the colors, it’s pretty cool looking.”

Avery says his favorite to work with is walnut, because it’s a “hard wood but easier to work with than oak, and you can’t beat the color.”

Steven says that for now, the whole venture is just kind of fun, but that it does help out with some income loss over the years with tobacco being phased out. "I'm lucky because it started out as a hobby, but now I can make a little bit of money on it, too. I don't plan on giving it up anytime soon, as long as people stay interested." 

Avery says his career goal is engineering, "but a lot of the principles I’ve learned through all of this will go into any career." Engineering is about applying real-world solutions to whatever problems you face, he says.

“With woodworking, it can be very technical at times. It’s a craft, sure, but it’s a science — how the glue works and how much time you have to work with it, the best blades for whatever situation … to programming or coding the laser cutter so it’s precise … And it helps with creativity, like how to make a custom order work.”

When asked what his favorite item is to make, Avery says, “Honestly, whatever I make next,” and laughs. “My favorite part is making something new. I guess it’s a mixture of coming up with a new idea and implementing it, and when it’s a success.”

Avery says he considers a design a success “when I sell more than one, or when there’s reposts of it and they’re happy with it.”

He says he’ll be leaving the shop, though, sometime next year. Avery also won a presidential scholarship to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he plans to study aerospace engineering.

Although he'll be living in Daytona, Fla. for the next four years, he says he knows Stivers Woodworks will be there when he gets back. "I'd like to work with him again when I'm out of college and continue it," Avery says.

For more info, visit Stivers Woodworks on Facebook.

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