Beyond The Grain: Welcome to Tread Woodworking

BEYOND THE GRAIN

Edition 01: Welcome to Tread Woodworking

Welcome to our first newsletter! Whether you've made a purchase with us, saw our video on Instagram or Facebook about this, or just happened to stumble upon it, welcome to our shop narrative and we appreciate you being here.

Tread Woodworking has always been about more than just furniture and boards; it is about the quiet dialogue between craft, material, and space. We are launching this newsletter to bring you closer to the workbench, sharing insights into the background of our materials and the thoughts and process behind our designs.

From deep dives into timber selection to behind-the-scenes glimpses of our current projects, this is your invitation into a community that values longevity, honesty, and the enduring beauty of wood.

A little bit more about us

As this is our first edition, we wanted to share a little bit more about ourselves and the company. My name is Cole and I co-own Tread Woodworking with my dad Casey. While only the two of us own it on paper, this is a whole family operation. My mom is with me at every market we are vendors at and she is constantly watching my kids (same with my father-in-law) to allow us the time to build all of our awesome products. My wife also supports everything we do from helping at markets, to product analysis and providing inspiration for future builds. We all work together and the result is what you see now and we are always striving to better ourselves and grow.

Why call ourselves Tread Woodworking? That's actually not that common of question. I truly thought I'd be answering that a lot more than I have. Aside from friends and maybe two people who have asked at markets, not many people seem curious. Well, if you are curious, I'll explain, but if you're not that curious, feel free to skip to the next section. But don't worry it is a quick explanation. I joined the Navy out of high school and with a last name like Swim, I'm sure you can imagine all the jokes. Right off the bat from boot camp it was, "Can you swim?" "Do you like to swim?" Anything swim related, I've heard it. The drill instructors had a great time when we had our pool day in boot camp. Anyway, that continued through my time until one day, another petty officer saw me and said "Hey Tread." In my head I was thinking what the hell does that mean, as I looked at him very confused. He obviously could tell I was confused and explained, "Tread, like treading water. Your last name is Swim...treading water." It was the first time anyone had an original joke in reference to my name and it has stuck with me ever since.  

How did the company come to be? Once I got out of the Navy, I knew I wanted to start my own company. At the time I didn't know what that would be but I knew it was going to be something. I became an EMT and worked with private ambulance companies and the fire department for a few years. Right before my daughter was born, we decided that it would be best for me to quit and become a stay-at-home dad and I could still go to school to maybe pursue a career in the medical field. The plan was working out and school was going well but I just didn't like where I was heading, it didn't feel like what I actually wanted to do with my life. One day, when my parents were hanging out at our house, my dad and I were talking and this idea of starting a woodworking company came to light and it snowballed from there. He was a finish carpenter for most of my childhood and he had been teaching about tools and building techniques for as long as I could remember so we both had a ton of experience with woodworking. We had been building things for friends and family for years and now we were at the point where we could actually turn our skills and passion into a business. So here we are, sharing our love of woodworking with as many people as we can.

Now, we are at the point in our journey where we are starting to give back. We started the one board = one tree planted initiative this year to help plant as many trees as we can. Obviously, there are many uses for wood and millions of trees are cut down as a result of it. While we aren't cutting down random trees to make our products, we do get our lumber from sustainable sources, but we still felt like we needed to help put back some of those trees being lost. Plant With Purpose is a fantastic organization where we have been donating and our goal for this year was to help plant 150 trees. As it stands, we have 80 more to go so we are getting closer!

Well, it feels like I've been rambling on for long enough now so this will conclude our first edition of Beyond The Grain newsletter. Thank you again for being here and supporting us so far! Small businesses thrive on people like you and without your support, we wouldn't be here. Truly appreciate each and every one of you!

P.S. - I know a lot of you found us because of our bourbon boards. If you are interested in more bourbon related content, be sure to follow my other page @neatandmuddy on Instagram and YouTube. I'll also be starting another newsletter similar to this one, but more focused on bourbon, trail running, and still some woodworking. It's still in the works but stay tuned for that, cheers!  

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