BELOIT
Tom Schroeder fell in love with woodworking as a boy, and now he wants to share his passion with the stateline area and beyond.
Schroeder is known among friends as “The Wood Wizard,” and it’s easy to see why.
He started refinishing furniture for friends and then branched out into intricate pens, wine stoppers, chain pulls and wooden art pieces. He’ll even do custom pieces if asked.
“It’s really something that you can put yourself into,” Schroeder said. “There’s a lot of myself that goes into my work. It’s special to me. Each piece is different.”
His love of woodworking started with a redwood bowl he made when he was 12.
He still uses exotic woods from around the world in his creations.
“You feel a really personal connection to what you are working on,” he said. “It’s just amazing what you can learn about the types of wood and the trees it comes from. Each tree has a story, and they all have strengths and weaknesses for working with them.”
In 2015, Schroeder was unemployed and down on his luck when a friend offered him a job that involved woodworking. That reignited his passion.
His shop grew along with his furniture refinishing client base, and the current space is filled with all the tools a hobbyist would need, including an office that holds his stash of exotic woods.
Schroeder’s Facebook page, 1660 Wood Works, boast pictures of his elaborate wooden artwork and pens. His creations are also sold at The Villager Gallery & Frameworks in downtown Beloit.
“I don’t consider what I do a small business per se, but I really love what I can do, and it’s a passion for me,” he said. “I have learned a lot to be where I am today.
“I get to thinking about everything I can do as I am working on stuff. I didn’t want to depend on having to always buy what I needed.”
Schroeder once bought stabilized wood from online vendors, but he decided to take matters into his own hands and teach himself every step of the woodworking process.
Stabilizing wood involves infusing a piece of wood with resin to create a harder finished product—sometimes with colors that can lend more artistry to the piece.
Each chunk of wood tells a tale.
“You bring something back to life that someone might think is junk,” Schroeder said. “It’s something that needs a little tender love and care.”
Through social media, Schroeder said he has made connections that he never expected.
“I have met friends there and stuff,” he said. “You get to find people you would never have been in contact with before, all because of social media.”
