Howard Gelles | Woodmaster Drum Sanders Blog

Howard Gelles turned his woodworking hobby — making red cedar furniture — into a lucrative full time business…and business is great!

Here’s Howard at work in his woodworking shop. He planes workpieces on his Woodmaster Molder/Planer (right) then sands them on his Woodmaster Drum Sander (left).

Imagine working at your favorite hobby and getting paid for it. Think it’s impossible? Woodworker, Howard Gelles, is doing it full time…and loving it.

“It started as a hobby but today it’s my full time business. I manufacture red cedar outdoor furniture in the Adirondack style. I own the shop and operate it by myself — a 1-man operation. Visit my website!

Faster production & better quality with his 2 Woodmasters

I bought the Woodmaster Molder/Planer first and use it to plane rough cut lumber. I often order rough cut lumber from the mill, either kiln dried or air dried. I buy rough cut for price reasons. Planed lumber is $1 more a foot. If I buy 1,000 feet, that would be $1,000 more for the order of lumber. For the last project I did, I ordered 1,000 lineal feet of lumber. If I’d ordered planed lumber, it would have added at least $1000.

Every foot I plane I’m saving a dollar. If I had someone plane it for me, they’d charge a setup charge, too. I size lumber to the exact thickness I want on the planer. The quality of the planed surface is very smooth.

I plane all 4 sides through the Woodmaster Molder/Planer. I run faces and edges. I stand the boards up and plane the edges. It saves a lot of time. If I had to run it through the edger, it would add more time. I can run two boards at a time through the Woodmaster; I can’t do that on a jointer. I run 8’ lengths, 2” thick lumber two at a time on edge. I use a guide to hold them upright. I’m doing all 4 sides on the planer.

Then I bought the Woodmaster Drum Sander. Each chair I build has about 30 parts. Before I got the Woodmaster 3875 Drum Sander, I had to use a palm sander on all those pieces, both sides. That got to be very tedious. When I got the Woodmaster Drum Sander, I could run all those pieces through in less than 20 minutes. With the palm sander, I’d be doing hours and hours of sanding. That’s a big time savings.

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SAVE BIG NOW on Woodmaster Molder/Planers! – sale prices, online specials

The Woodmaster Drum Sander has just been a lifesaver. My productivity is boosted many times over. If you have a handheld sander, and stay too long in one place you’re going to get an uneven surface. With the Woodmaster sander, it goes through at a steady pace and you don’t have a problem with unevenness. That improves the quality of your product.

Industrial machine performance at a fraction of the cost

Without a doubt, my Woodmasters are the best tools in my shop, in use every day. They work wonderfully. For a wide belt sander, you’re looking at $6 – $9000 for a big Powermatic. You can get the same results with a Woodmaster. I’ve seen both operate and I don’t see any difference in the output.

TheInfinitely Variable Feed Rate, 0 – 16 feet per minute (FPM) – is a big help. I like the steady variable feed on the Woodmasters. I have a lot more control of the pieces going through the machine. If I want to slow down to get a better finish, I can do that.

I’d tell anybody that’s looking for a commercial-quality sander or planer – go with the Woodmaster. I’ve told several people I know that these are the best machines for the money. Woodmaster, keep up the good work.”

— Howard Gelles, Cedar Furniture Craftsman, Knoxville MD

SAVE BIG NOW on Woodmaster Drum Sanders! – sale prices, online specials

SAVE BIG NOW on Woodmaster Molder/Planers! – sale prices, online specials

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