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Demonstrator Spotlight: Brian “Sedge” Sedgeley
Working for FESTOOL USA and Creating Connections with People Through Woodworking
Woodworking is more than just a skill or career: it’s a blend of many things–hard work, patience, and passion. This is the first edition of our newly formed Demonstrator Spotlight we’ve been working on ahead of our annual shows: Johnson’s Wood Expo (Charlotte, MI) and Johnson’s Woodworking Showcase (South Bend, IN) – both taking place in September.
We have been interviewing demonstrators and getting the inside scoop on how they got started in woodworking. This edition focuses on Brian Sedgeley, “Sedge,” who’s based out of Indiana and has 30 years of woodworking experience. He is known for being a FESTOOL USA representative and having social media channels under the “Sedge Tool” name. He shared with us his roots of joining the trade, what he’s involved in, where he draws inspiration, and his aspirations for attending EXPO this year.
Q&A with Sedge
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the type of woodworking you do?
A: “I was born and raised into woodworking, and I didn’t know it,” says Sedge. He was born in Lewiston, Maine (30 miles north of Portland), and spent some time with his maternal great-grandfather and grandfather, who were both master carpenters. He helped them build boats and snowshoes in Northern Maine. “I have pictures of me and my brother using hand planes when I was seven years old,” says Sedge, “I thought woodworking was just a part of life and everyone knew how to do it too.”
Sedge went to college and studied communications and psychology at Southern Maine University before moving to Fort Lauderdale. Before pursuing a woodworking career, he co-owned two restaurants. He took on the project of repairing and flattening out their butcher block countertops. It ended up saving the business a lot of money. This act was one of the eye-opening events that led him to become involved in the trade.
Q: How did you get into woodworking and working at FESTOOL?
A: After selling his restaurants, Sedge started selling tools behind a place in Davie, Florida, called International Tools, where people would come in and ask him woodworking questions. One of his friends was the one to suggest he open his own store. “He said, ‘Hey, you ought to open up a small shop, because you know more about this than these guys in the boat industry, cabinet industry, and carpentry.’ And I go, ‘Don’t you?’ And he went, ‘Uh, no.’ So I thought about it, and I talked to my wife, and we were a young couple and only had two nickels to rub together; so I started a small woodworking business out of a storm shed.”
Sedge started his own cabinet shop in Fort Lauderdale with his friend Mike Zeisler, called Furniture PhD. Then, five years in, his friend, who opened a Marine tool store, brought in the FESTOOL line, and he bought a track saw. His friend began letting him work behind the counter on Saturday mornings, where he met a guy named Jim Mayner, who was one of the three salespeople FESTOOL was built on. “Lo and behold, about three years after meeting Jim, he said, ‘I think you would be a great trainer. We just built a facility in Lebanon, Indiana.’ And I said, ‘What’s there?’ And he goes, ‘Cornfields and truck stops.’ And I went, ‘Sounds like Indiana.’ So I went home and told my wife, Maryanne, and she goes, ‘What else is in Indiana?’ I said, ‘Honey, Notre Dame is two and a half hours away.’ She goes, ‘we’re moving.’”
Q: Is there a current project that you’re working on, either personal woodworking or for FESTOOL Live, something you’re building?
A: Sedge is currently working on a project that his wife drafted up, so he’s been building out new cabinets for their laundry room. He also creates content for FESTOOL USA Live and for his personal Sedge Tool social media accounts, which have amassed nearly 100,000 followers across all platforms. He often tests and reviews products for FESTOOL, given his robust background and experience with woodworking through a cabinet maker’s lens.
Sedge also does a podcast with two other guys, Ronnie Fulton and Jason Bent, called The Three Splinters Podcast. The podcast has gained enough traction that they now host an annual meetup called SplinterCON. Interested parties can purchase tickets for this 3 ½ day event; it is aimed at people who want to hang out and talk about woodworking. Various companies take part in donating tools and materials for those in attendance.
Q: What does your role look like at FESTOOL in terms of content, training, or any other jobs that you have?
A: Sedge does internal training for FESTOOL and shows people the ins and outs of its system. He is also involved in a semi-annual event known as the Build-Off that’s in conjunction with Rubio Monocoat. Sedge started the event with Alan Neri from Rubio eight years ago, and each year since, 10 to 12 people are invited, particularly influencers. “We supply the lumber, we supply FESTOOL tools, we supply Rubio Monocoat, and contestants have just two days to build a piece of furniture that we auction for charity,” says Sedge. Two teams work together to meet the tight deadline. “Everybody shows up on Tuesday night, the build is Wednesday, Thursday, and half a day on Friday, then I’ll do a FESTOOL live on the FESTOOL USA live YouTube channel.”
Q: Is there any advice you would give to new people getting started in woodworking?
A: “Wood is the short word, working is the long word,” says Sedge, “It is a lot of work. If you have a passion for woodworking, just be aware that it is a business, and you have to have good business acumen as well.” He thinks that people who want to either get into the woodworking business or own their own business should work for someone else to learn more about the industry and take business classes. “Then if you decide you want to do this full-time and own your own business, go for it. But if you are just passionate about woodworking or the trade, and you really like to do it, it is a great career. Don’t let anybody tell you it’s not. It’s phenomenal. You can make a great living at it.”
Another piece of advice he has is to honor your craft. If you are in the trade, you should not get too comfortable with what you know and always be curious and open to learn. Be passionate; it’s amazing how quickly you can learn if you’re willing. “The next thing you know, you’ll own your own cabinet shop,” says Sedge.
Sedge shared a statistic that said for every five tradespeople retiring, only two new ones are coming in to take their place. This is a discrepancy that needs to be fixed to keep the trades alive, especially the art and craftsmanship of woodworking.
Q: Do you think there’s anything we could be doing in the woodworking space to attract more people or to make the barriers of entry smaller?
A: “Yeah, teach the parents,” says Sedge, “There’s always talk of a trade versus college. Your parents want you to go to college and become a professional, but then you look and they were tradespeople themselves. They’ve always wanted better for the kids, and they don’t realize that they have a great life as is.” The trades are relatively less expensive than a college degree, and he believes it’s a better route to take. People do not have to go to school to make a good living, but not many people know that or have lived it.
Sedge believes that to get people interested and capture people’s attention, you have to be taught by someone passionate and engaging. “A good teacher has to have the patience and understanding to manage all the different personalities in the room, because you could have somebody who’s been woodworking for 20 years in the same class as somebody who’s brand new. You have to be able to teach both avenues and make sure that the person who’s tenured gets something out of it, but that person who is new doesn’t get left behind. I think that’s one true quality of a good instructor, teacher, or mentor.”
Q: Is there any place you find inspiration where it sort of livens up your passion?
A: Sedge draws inspiration from other creators on YouTube, challenging himself to find a new angle on something that’s been done before. He enjoys incorporating new media into something, finding inspiration in nature, and through conversations with others. “Right now, my inspiration is Maryanne, my wife, who tells me what to do,” Sedge jokes about his current household project. He also mentioned a recent trip while visiting friends near an IKEA store. “It is interesting looking at current trends, much like viewing objects and furniture on display at the Smithsonian.”
He also drew inspiration from taking trips and sightseeing. “We took a trip to Ireland. It was inspiring to see some of the old castles. I was in there and seeing some of the woodwork and stuff like that firsthand inspires me. Nowadays, everything is all online, but I think seeing things up close is a lot different.”
Q: Is there one thing you hope that attendees of our EXPO show and their interactions with you, or from the communication with FESTOOL, that they should take away?
A: One of the main takeaways Sedge wants people to get out of EXPO is that he’s the same in-person as on camera. At EXPO, he will be working for FESTOOL, where he loves to meet new people, answer their questions, and chat about all things woodworking. He emphasized that he wants to be able to talk to everyone who wishes to speak with him, so please stick around a little longer if you are waiting; “I feel really bad sometimes when somebody complains and goes, ‘Yeah, I was here last year and you were so busy talking to everybody’ and I’m like ‘You should have hung out,” says Sedge, “I hate not giving the people the opportunity to get their FESTOOL questions answered.”
Brian “Sedge” Sedgeley has a clear passion for woodworking with 30 years of experience under his belt, and his position at FESTOOL makes him an equipment expert as well. You can follow along with his content under the handle @SedgeTool on social media.
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