Crafting a woodworking niche market
By STEVE BRIGGS, Contributing Writer, Burnett County Sentinel
Clem (left) and John Beaulieu
JDB Designs, a Grantsburg company that sells furniture around the world through Cabela’s Outfitters catalog and web site, has opened a store in Grantsburg.
The store is a busy woodworking shop, so expect to encounter some sawdust along with a friendly welcome from the owners, Clem and John Beaulieu.
The store/shop is located in the former Hedlund filling station, just south across the street from the Grantsburg Post Office, on the corner of Pine Street and Olson Drive.
The Beaulieus started their father-and-son woodworking business in 1991, but got serious about it in 1994 when they landed the contract with Cabela’s.
Perhaps hundreds of companies make hardwood coffee tables, end tables and coat racks, but JDB Designs offers Cabela’s a feature that makes JDB furniture unique: inset glass tabletops and mirrors that are etched with scenes licensed from the famous outdoor and wildlife painter, Terry Redlin.
“The etched glass is what makes it,” says Clem, 83. “You can’t patent or copyright a furniture design, but no one else has a license to use Terry Redlin’s artwork on etched glass or mirrors.”
Redlin’s warm-hearted outdoor settings became widely known in the 1990s. Redlin was named “America’s Most Popular Artist” for eight straight years from 1991-98 in polls that U.S. Art magazine conducts annually at art galleries.
Etching glass is a deeper, more detailed process than merely frosting glass. Etching results in much more of the artwork’s detail transferred into the mirror or glass.
Clem’s son John, 55, has mastered the art of etching glass and mirrors with acid. It’s a one-shot process, the acid doing its work in 15-20 seconds.
“It’s tricky,” John says, “because you’re taking a color painting or print and converting it to black and white in the etched glass. There is some trial and error in it. The temperature and humidity need to be just right.”
For that reason, John does the etching in a separate shop next door to their A-frame home beside Memory Lake.
The Beaulieus fill their Cabela’s orders by shipping directly from Grantsburg, so they always know where their furniture is headed. They’ve shipped to all 50 states plus Canada, Norway and Japan.
Their “pet peeve” is to have a product damaged in shipment, so they developed a method to reinforce their mirrors to make them 10 times stronger than regular mirror glass.
To demonstrate the product’s strength to a visitor, John takes a large hammer and gives an etched glass table a surprisingly hard “whack” directly on the glass. No damage.
And, to ensure their furniture isn’t broken in shipment, Clem developed a shaker machine that replicates the tough handling that shipped items sometimes receive during transit.
“If something is going to break, we want it to happen here in our shop,” Clem says, “so we put every type product we ship to the test on our shaker.”
The result? Less than one percent of JDB products are damaged in shipping.
The Beaulieus take pride in knowing that many of their wood furniture pieces become heirlooms, and they make them to last.
They examined old church furniture and commercial wood furniture to determine what kept it sturdy for so many years. They found many of the strong pieces used a ‘clamp nail technique” to hold the joints steady for a lifetime of use. The Beaulieus added it into their tables, cabinets and other furniture.
Clem is especially proud of a Norwegian bed he built at the request of a local customer. “It’s very sturdy and beautiful, and she loves it,” he says happily.
The Beaulieaus hope their store will help draw customers who want a custom piece of furniture built, such as an entertainment center, computer desk, or a pull-out buffet. Customers can bring in a design or work with Clem and John to create the piece or set of furniture they desire.
They are pleased to employ Rick Goepfert and Stan Chute, both of Grantsburg. “Rick and Stan are skilled craftsmen with a natural talent for working with wood,” Clem said.
In addition selling via Cabela’s, JDB Designs also sells its products through the Wild Wings catalog, Lighthouse Depot, and catalogs for train enthusiasts, like John. They have etched churches and temples for a web site based in Utah.
JDB Designs can assist anyone wishing to have a favorite piece of wood furniture repaired. They fix shelves, cabinets and furniture. They also do kitchen cabinet construction at a competitive price, and will reface kitchen cabinets too.
They love working with hard woods, especially Red Oak, birch and maple, but also work with walnut, hickory, ash, and cherry, plus exotic woods from all over the world.
“We will build any kind of furniture, in any kind of hardwood, in any kind of finish,” Clem concluded.