FOLKS, my name is Ron Snider, and I am the Ole Woodcrafter.
The Wife and I for over 40 happily married years, make
our home in the beautiful mountains of southwest
Virginia, approximately 45 miles from Bristol Virginia.
Here in these majestic and serene mountains we spend our days making our own brand of pet products, personalized wood signs and other items for the home.
When we are not crafting for customers, we spend our time playing with our grandkids, and as for me being a writer, I can be found writing such books as The Darkling War, which was published in 2013 and can viewed at amazon.com and on this site.
Folks, we would like to think you for all the years of support that you have given us. The love for your pets that you have kindly shared with us through your emails along with their pictures has touched our hearts.
Those of you that have been to our website before, have notice that our site has been updated, the truth is, it has been rebuilt. The folks that took care of making sure that it was always up and running, are no longer themselves up and running. So I had to remake another one.
Now, moving on to other subjects, some of you good folks have become interested in the wife and I through my blog. Since this page is titled about us, I would like to jot down a few lines about my wife before moving on.
My Wife and I met many years ago when we were in high school. We went together through our highschool years, and then became husband and wife afterwards. I love my wife just as much now, as I did those many years ago. Not only is she my wife, she has always been my best friend. We work beside each other every single day, every decision is made together, every joyous occasion we shared together and yes, every hardship that makes marriage strong, we went through it together. Folks are just to ready to call it quits these days.
My wife not only excels in woodcrafting, when it comes to answering questions when you folks ask, she is the one that personally see's to all of that.
And now, in case if you have been wondering just how I got interested in doing hand craftsmanship items.
As far back as I can remember, I have always had a fascination in creating wooden items. The first item that I ever made was a toy airplane, and I made it out of scrap wood in my fathers garage.
After spending many enjoyable hours of creating my toy airplane, I discovered that I had more enjoyment in the creation, then I had in the actual toy.
Soon afterwards, my mother and I was talking, and she made mention that there was adults who actually made items by hand, and sold them. After thinking about that, and since I had my enjoyment of creating the airplane, maybe I would enjoy in selling it.
I took my new creation to the frount of my house, and put a for sale sign on my toy.
Eventually I lost interest in trying to sell it, a whole hour had passed and not one car had stopped to take a look... besides my favorite cartoon, the Flintstones was on tv. After all it is the 1960s, and stuff as that was important to a growing boy!
After the show, I found myself hard at work selling my toy airplane that I had worked hard to create. However, I loved every minute in making it.
Then it happened, a car came down the road and stopped. After what seemed like an eternity, a man got out of his car and looked at my creation. After asking how much did I want for it, I discovered that I didn't get that far in thinking about a price. After all, it was made from scrap lumber from out of my fathers garage.
The man said I had talent, that was a nice word to hear at such a young age, after he thought it was worth 12 dollars, he handed over the money... in the 1960s that was a lot of money to a boy. The best part is, it hooked me forever when it comes to hand craftsmanship.
Throughout the years as I grew, the skills of woodworking and the love that I had for it grew with me. I continued to practice my skills on creating various items, I have become a master woodcrafter, I am now passing the skills that I have learned, down to my grandchildren and other good folks here in the mountains of Virginia.
Why choose a product made by the wife and I:
This old woodcrafter will try the best that I can to try to explain just that.
These products are not made in another country, even the wood that the product is made from comes out of Columbia South Carolina, did I plan it to be that way, the answer to that is no, it just work out that way. The glue that I use is also made in America. Our items is American made... made by an American mom and pop shop and hopefully in a few more years our grandkids will be working beside us, buy American to keep the good ole U.S.A. at work.
Please don't misunderstand me, I have nothing against our foreign friends, after all they have families and are trying to make it through this life the best that they can, so they have nothing to say or can do anything about their situation. However, we are a mom and pop shop, we cannot afford to purchase cheaply made products such as glue that is thin, wood that is warped, stain that leaves dark spots. My customers don't want that, me being a craftsmen absolutely doesn't want that. The old saying is, you get what you pay for, and if a person is not careful, they will get just that.
When it comes to pet products, some of them, but not all, are made really cheap, so the company can make money. Then they are exported to this great country where the price is dramatically increased to be sold through pet supply stores, pet magazines, drop shipping companies and so on.
Another good reason is, especially these days, why would a person want to pay such a high price for a pet feeder that comes from a pet supply store... where the store buys the cheaply made feeders from other country's at a very very low price, then marks up the price two to three hundred percent. Have you looked at the price of our American made handcrafted pet feeders and compared the price to the cheaply made feeders in the pet store? Wow... you are absolutely right, they are lower in price, plus you get free personalization of your pet names burned into the feeder. Why so low in price did you say?
#1, We love what we do. #2, We are a mom and pop shop, there is no overhead or much of it to worry about. All of that savings gets passed onto you.
Well folks, thank you for taking the time to read this page. If you should have any questions, all you have to do is ask.
God bless and have a good day.