Is woodworking even a profitable trade anymore?

[mjhaverkamp]

I have three different friends that do it, one makes nice furniture, one makes rustic furniture and other rustic items, and one has a saw mill and he does all sorts of wood products, one big item is fire place mantles.

[Capt.Bryan]

I'm not sure what your current job is or how much time you have for your 2nd income job. A few concerns I would have with trim carpentry work would be on new home construction they are not going to keep waiting around on you to meet deadlines. I see your in Hondo, there used to be a really good trim and cabinet shop on the south side of 90 on the east side of town. The owners name was Ronnie, I have hunted and fished with him in the past. I would say you would need something unique to specialize in. Like others said above fireplace mantles, maybe only cabinet doors or drawer fronts for people who want a different look on their cabinets but already have good hardwood cabinet frames. Another lost trade to me is upolstery work. Recovering boat, atv and utv seats.

[tbeak]

For my neighbor it is. Charges 3k for a writing table and does custom handrails in homes.

[OrangeBlood]

my neighbor does some wood work out of his garage, him and his wife buy old junk looking pieces and then re-purpose them to something cool, like a table or coffee table. I know he sold one of his tables for 2k, not sure how much he had in it though. If your creative, I'm sure you can make some money at it. good luck

[jhunter77]

Sorry I just saw the op is in Hondo. I am near bryan and doubt you want to travel that far

[JHoss]

As stated before, not trying to hijack the thread but want to keep it alive because I am contemplating pretty much the same thing as the OP.

For you pros... would you recommend cabinetry or trim work? Would you suggest slowly learning on my own or is it better to get hired somewhere and learn the business? I've checked out other states with appprenticeships but I haven't found any carpentry apprenticeships in Texas.

I enjoy pretty much anything having to do with making things out of wood so right now am just trying to find out what would be a viable option to support a family on.

[TP3]

Trim is more straight forward than cabinets. You can get away with mostly jobsite grade tools. To really build many cabinets you will need a good shop table saw, among other things.

There is no substitute for learning by doing. If it was simple everyone would be doing it. That doesn't mean you may not pick it up quickly. But it's tough to jump out there without someone showing you some "tricks of the trade" so to speak.

Only problem is if I show you how to do it, well I just might be training my future competition.

Not much in the way of advice after all I guess.