R&K Woodworking thrives on a combination of new technology and old-fashioned customer service.
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Year Founded: 1988
Employees: 2 full-time, 1 part-time
Shop Size: 2,400 square feet
FYI: The parts that R&K Woodworking produces go in everything from chairs to guide boats to cat toys. |
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Every day brings a new project to R&K Woodworking of Vergennes, VT. One day, it could be 400 parts for wooden cat toys. The next, it could be 90 flute cases, or parts for 500 toy ferry boats, or, if it’s close to Easter, an order of wooden ducks and rabbits.
R&K works with woodworking companies of all sizes, from large manufacturers to small shops which suddenly find themselves with large orders and no way to produce them. “That’s why I’m here,” says Randall Ouellette, president. “I will come in and do a portion of the parts, or all of them. I’ll do just about anything for anyone.”
Ouellette employs two full-time and one part-time employees. Though it may be a smaller shop, R&K Woodworking has made a niche for itself as a company able to make one part or one million parts for national and local companies. Depending on what the customer wants, those parts can be delivered unassembled or partially assembled.
“I’m proud of what we do,” Ouellette says. “We push an awful lot of work through here with three guys. Being able to utilize CNC equipment has gotten me a lot of jobs I wouldn’t have been able to do.”
A Chair Here, a Cat Toy There
R&K Woodworking started in 1988, but Ouellette has been active in woodworking and other industries long before that. He was working as a machinist at a metal shop before rediscovering a love of woodworking. He became an assistant sales manager for one woodworking supply company before working as a machine operator at another shop.
While employed at another woodworking company, Ouellette was assigned the job of making flute cases for Jonathan Landell Flutes. Thinking that other flute manufacturers also needed flute cases, he called up Verne Q. Powell Flute Co. and asked if he could bid on its cases.
“At the time, they were looking for another flute case manufacturer,” he says. The company accepted his bid, and while still working full-time at the other shop, he made 500 flute cases in 1998 using an inverted pin router.
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| R&K Woodworking manufactures about 90 cherry and butternut flute cases for Vern Q. Powell Flutes every month. One of the company’s two Shopbot routers is set up to run nothing but flute cases. |
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“In running those, I started having problems with my shoulders, elbows and wrists. It was brutal work,” he recalls. Around that time, Ouellette came across a magazine article detailing affordable CNC machines for small shops. That led to the purchase of his first Shopbot CNC router and the start of R&K Woodworking.
“That’s all that machine does now is cut up flute cases. It’s all set up and fixtured for it,” Ouellette says, adding that he is the only wooden flute case manufacturer in the country. R&K receives orders for about 90 cases a month from Powell flutes and also still makes cases for Landell flutes, as it does not violate the non-compete agreement with Powell. “I’ve never signed a clause [with Powell], but I gave them my word.”
Ouellette purchased a second Shopbot router in 2000 when he moved his business to a 2,400-square-foot shop, a space four times larger than his first location. The shop is also home to a Delta radial arm saw and Unisaw, Performax Supermax sander, Reliant planer, Grizzly dust collector and various power tools, including Porter-Cable routers. After programming code at the router, Ouellette learned to use VectorCAD to program and Shopbot’s 3-D Probe to take 3-D images of parts to duplicate.
Ouellette has used his experience as a machinist to make jigs and fixtures that he needs. He also installed barber chair lifts on several of the machines. As the shortest person in the shop, he can work with the machines, and then a taller employee can work raise the machine and still work comfortably.
Along with flute cases, the company makes boat parts for Adirondack Guide Boats, child’s rocking chair parts for Vermont Folk Rocker, chair parts for Vermont Leisure Designs, and point-of-purchase displays for Ancient Graffiti.
Along with Powell Flutes and Adirondack Guide Boats, one of the company’s steadiest customers is Tuffkat, a manufacturer of cat toys. R&K manufacturers a reel housing for its “katfish pole,” a wooden fishing rod with a fuzzy mouse at the end. Ouellette estimates that he has made 4,000 or 5,000 parts for the rods. “We just load up the blanks [on the router], and it cuts the oval out,” Ouellette says, adding that the corners on the housings are cut off on a table saw. “I can do the rest on the router. But we found that it was more efficient to do the rest of the work on the table saw and use a jig.
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| Randall Ouellette estimates that R&K has made more than 4,000 reel housings for this “katfish pole” cat toy. The ovals are cut out of the blanks on the router, and then they are cut into two and rounded off on a table saw. |
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“My own cats go nuts over the pole. My dogs do too,” he adds.
Another regular customer is Beacon & Parsons, a small furniture shop in nearby Shelburne. “They’re a two-man shop, but they employ a bunch of small shops to do parts for their furniture line,” Ouellette says. R&K recently fabricated some tabletops and bookcase sides for a Beacon & Parsons project in the Gund Research Institute at the University of Vermont.
Making Time for Custom Pieces
While the bulk of R&K’s sales comes from component manufacturing, Ouellette says that he does find time to restore antiques and make custom furniture. “I crave custom work, but in order for me to make a living at this, I need to do the production work,” he says.
Many of the pieces that he creates are given away, usually as prizes for fund-raisers or church raffles. “I believe honestly that if you go out and try to do good things for the community, you get back what you give,” he explains.
Ouellette has sold two of his furniture pieces to his landlady. He had been commissioned to build an entertainment center. As he was picking up the materials, he noticed a stack of lumber that came from a bent cherry log. “It was 8 feet long, and if you stood it on its points, there would be a foot clearance or more [in the middle],” he recalls. “I saw that log, and I had to have it.” As he was building the entertainment center, his landlady asked him to also make a bookcase to fit along a low wall. Ouellette used the bent wood to make a curved front bookcase.
As with R&K’s other products, the furniture is made from No. 3 common lumber. Ouellette’s work features pitch pockets, knots (except for the flute cases) and other imperfections that are found in wood. “Anything that I make for my customers will have sapwood and knots,” he says. “It makes the pieces interesting.”
In addition to the production and custom work, R&K Woodworking offers a rapid prototyping service. One customer from California called R&K with a request to produce a casting for a new type of airport runway light. By using next-day delivery, Ouellette was able to get the part, scan it into the computer, make the required adjustments and send it back in a matter of days. The castings will be made of aluminum, but the customer wanted the prototype in wood.
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| Many of the furniture pieces that Ouellette makes are given away for charity auctions and raffles. This cherry and curly maple armoire is one such piece. |
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“That was so they didn’t spend thousands of dollars ruining aluminum castings,” he explains. “I gave them a medium that we could easily modify, and they could prove their concept.”
Thanks to R&K’s variety of services, products and customers, the company’s sales have grown continuously, and it is expected to top $100,000 in sales this year. Ouellette says that he has several reliable customers that he can call and get work from if he needs it. Customer service is one of his keys to having such successful relationships, he says.
“I was the first woodworker who did Powell’s flute cases who went down to see their shop. I went to them rather than having them come to me,” he says. “Sometimes it’s important to be seen and not just heard.
“I try to be genuine. I believe in honesty, integrity and my word,” Ouellette explains. “If I give my word, then come hell or high water, it’s going to get done.”
Making Vermont a Better Place for Woodworkers
Along with his involvement in the Vermont community, Ouellette is also a member of the steering committee for Vermont WoodNet (www.vtwoodnet.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening business opportunities for Vermont woodworking companies. The group is also heavily involved with sustainable forestry practices; several of its members, including R&K, are FSC certified shops.
There are about 250 companies involved in Vermont WoodNet. The organization provides plenty of networking opportunities; several of R&K’s projects have come through WoodNet and its members. Many of the member companies also worked together to construct two conference tables for the Vermont governor’s executive conference room.
Ouellette says that many sawmills have gone out of business, due to overseas competition. R&K is his proof that the woodworking industry is still alive and well in Vermont. “People who are like me — who are willing to do the one-offs or the one-millions — are finding work. I really haven’t had a slow time.
“My next move is going to be from 2,400 square feet to 10,000 square feet,” he continues. “I want to employ more people, I want to do more. The most important thing is having jobs in this community for this community.”
