Calculations to creations

OSAKIS — Preston Bowden is building his woodworking business gradually while he focuses on his main priority: his family. Bowden and his wife, Lexi, are in the busy season of raising a budding young family. Despite having a full-time job as a fabrication machine operator, Bowden finds time on the weekends and in the evenings to turn his ideas and inspirations into a reality at Bowden Woodworks and CNC Service, where he makes custom serving boards and kitchen utensils, toys for his children, and furniture.

Bowden uses an array of tools for wood cutting and engraving, including a computer numerical control machine, sanders and saws. Some of the equipment is stored in his garage, but the season or the project determines whether he utilizes space in the garage.

More commonly, Bowden said, it is his basement workshop that has one kind of project or another in the works. Bowden uses cameras to monitor the progress of the project as it runs through the design he has programmed on the CNC, or computer numerical control, machine, which is a computer-operated manufacturing machine. He also runs an integrated ventilation system to reduce dust and airborne particles created while cutting and engraving.

“It would be a dream to have a heated shop to be able to work out of year-round,” Bowden said.
“But right now, I make do. … The CNC machine is downstairs, and I can do a lot with that.”

Bowden earned his mechanical drafting degree from Alexandria Technical & Community College and then worked as a drafter for five years before transitioning into the fabrication department.

As such, custom designs do not intimidate him, he said.

“Having an engineering, manufacturing background ties in really well with woodworking,” Bowden said. “You can plan things better if you also understand how to draw them. I understand the 3D modeling side, so I can easily picture it (design ideas) in my head.”

Bowden became inspired by woodworking after a friend showed him a coffee table he had made from a slab of hardwood, he said.

Ever since, Bowden said, he balances projects that are more easily attainable with ones that push him a little bit. He learned a lot from trial and error and watching YouTube. Bowden said he found himself going down many rabbit holes, purely out of curiosity.

“Whether it is home projects or furniture that my wife wants, I usually can figure out something,” Bowden said.

As a child, Bowden said, he was always the curious type, constantly taking things apart to figure out how they worked.

That same curiosity has stayed with Bowden into adulthood. He is still intrigued by how to make ordinary, everyday items and enjoys adding his own custom style to them.

Bowden said he spends time reflecting on past projects, analyzing ways to streamline the process. With that in mind — whether it is the tools, the materials or the time — he said he is still refining many of his processes.

One item Bowden creates that has gained popularity recently is custom lake topography maps. Bowden said he uses the CNC machine to design and show lake depths from an aerial perspective, refining his creative process from where he started.

“I’ve made maps for people near the western border of Minnesota to as far north as Bemidji and everything in between,” Bowden said. “They (the maps) have become popular to a wider net of people. They either have lake cabins or are looking for custom, personalized gifts.”

For larger furniture projects, Bowden uses a variety of different hardwoods, including maple, cherry and walnut. Over the last few years, he said he has been able to build up connections with a few people who sell kiln-dried, planed wood. The quality of the wood is important to Bowden, and his engineering background lets him map out his designs, which he said is really useful when it comes to being accurate, precise and efficient.

Bowden works with customers on a closer level when it comes to custom creations. He said he asks a lot of questions so he knows what the customer wants before sourcing materials and starting. Bowden and his customers discuss design inspiration, wood tones, colors, stain options and size. That process helps him streamline his process and get his projects out the door faster.

Bowden has made a variety of products, so he now knows a little more about what items make the most sense to continue making.

Down the road, he said he plans to expand his customer base and product line. But for now, he will branch out at his own pace. Bowden said family comes first, and time for hobbies like bow hunting with his dad and brothers, playing pickleball, and lifting weights with friends is also important.

Bowden openly accepts orders through his woodworking listing on Facebook. He said getting one to two projects a month is attainable.

“I have thought about the future and have plans to expand,” Bowden said. “Right now, I am working on things as they come and perfecting my process in hopes that it is more achievable down the road.”