Business Q&A: St. Pete Woodworker Reinvigorates a Dying Craft

ST. PETERSBURG - Liberty Woodworking owner Billy Dunn builds things from scratch. His business is a one-man operation that custom-makes wood products.

Liberty Woodworking doesn't have a showroom, salesperson or inventory. What Dunn sells is his skill and craftmanship in an age of mass-production and automation.

Dunn is the first to say he is part of a "dying breed." But he would not have it any other way.

e works out of a small shop in a large building with a number of other construction-related businesses on 1^st Ave. in downtown St. Petersburg.

His space is filled with lathes, saws, drill presses and other light machinery covered with saw dust and surrounded by odd sections of wood, compressors and sketches.

He's friendly with a good sense of humor and a particular distaste for catalogs and pre-manufactured materials for the home. He gets his work via word-of-mouth, an expansive web site and from contacts as part of the Grand Central District Association.

Born in Philadelphia, Dunn has called St. Pete his home for a decade, though he has lived in Egypt, Germany and Baltimore, among other places.

Dunn recently talked to Patch about woodworking.

Q. Why St. Petersburg?

A.  I liked this location and the owner of the building... I came here from Baltimore City and this building has a similar kind of feel. I've got some good equipment here, some specialized stuff to build cabinetry with.

Q. Can you describe some of your previous carpentry work?

A. I was in the studio mechanics union in Baltimore City. Mostly I did TV commercials building sets. I was just getting plugged into the union and I did a couple movie sets and it was really cool work. I built the set for a pilot – I just figured it's not a big deal, it's nothing – now though it's The Backyardigans. I built the set for that and I also did the Julia Roberts movie, Runaway Bride.

Q. Why choose Liberty Woodworking?

A. I build the stuff. The limitation is I can build it out of wood. Ideally we're talking kitchens – kitchen cabinetry is where I shine. If you buy this manufactured stuff from a retailer, the resale is a hundred percent markup no matter what they tell you. Half of your money is not going toward the wood and the screws. If you spend 20 grand with me, you're going to get 20 grand worth of product."

Q. Can you give an example of a current project?

A. I'm meeting with someone today whose been down the road three times, getting someone to redesign and rebuild their kitchen. He said 'we've been trying to redo our kitchen three times. The last guy, we're sitting down to design it and he's looking at a catalog.' The customer described how 20 years ago his parents hired a carpenter to build a custom kitchen. He came to their house and built them a kitchen: that's custom. With the other guy he's not doing custom work, he's custom ordering.

Q. What inspired your attitude toward custom woodworking?

A. I lived in Cairo, Egypt, for five years and that's a place where you can't really buy anything. You have to have it made. We wore riding boots made by a cobbler, clothes were made by a tailor, which used to be totally foreign to me. Some of the customers I find now, to buy something out of a store is weird for them. Those are the people who I like to deal with. People who are used to having stuff custom made and not afraid to make all those decisions.

Q. What are your goals?

A. I really don't want to get big. What I offer is hand-built quality. I build it myself. I'm basically the old-school custom woodwork guy. I come look at your project, we talk about it, I'll sketch out a plan, tell you how much it is and go back to my shop, cut some wood and build the thing. I'm a dying breed. It's very, very tough to find anyone that actually builds anything anymore. It's easy to find people who say they'll build you something but it's tougher to find someone who can and will actually do a good job.