After years of building custom cabinets, doors, and even revolving doors, Joe Schneider turned his engineering background and love of woodworking into a new career.
Wood Slab King was born in 2013, when Schneider assembled a massive sawmill capable of cutting slabs up to 53 inches wide and 17 feet long. He and Andrew Craney, his nephew and co-owner, produce live-edge wood slabs — thick pieces that preserve the cut’s natural outer edge. No two items are identical; each has its own pattern and coloration. Customers choose their wood, with the most trendy picks being black walnut, curly maple, cherry, and rainbow poplar.
Schneider and Craney frequently cut logs weighing 4,000-5,000 pounds obtained from area businesses such as Randy’s Tree Service. “They know what we’re looking for, and basically they’ll just bring us truckloads of wood,” Craney says. Through a process called urban salvage, they use only trees taken down due to damage or danger to a surrounding structure.
After removing any metals, the process of prepping the wood takes, literally, years.
Craney explains that any hard wood of normal thickness needs to be air dried for two to three years and then dried even further in a kiln for up to four weeks. Wood Slab King uses two kilns: one wood-fired and the other powered by solar. Thorough drying is critical for any wood product brought into a home because it also sterilizes it of any insects. “Everything we’re selling today was cut in 2023 or 2024,” Craney says.
When Schneider built the sawmill — about the size of a large pickup truck — live-edge slabs were getting popular in both home and business designs. He and Craney say it hasn’t slowed in the years since. The uncle and nephew love what they do, and thanks in part to Craney’s marketing skills honed at the University of Southern Indiana, they have built a diverse network of clientele. Bar and tabletops are frequent requests of commercial customers such as Zaps Tavern, Cross-Eyed Cricket, and Parlor Doughnuts. Wood Slab King is also working on furniture pieces for Bowen Engineering’s Downtown office under construction.
Craney says 90 percent of their clients are homeowners, who can view finished pieces by visiting Wood Slab King’s Darmstadt showroom. Once a table slab is selected, Craney and Schneider make a detailed drawing with all the customers’ desired features, which come to life in 4-8 weeks.
“Floating shelves are really hot right now. We’ve been making tons of those, and big tables,” Craney says, noting that Wood Slab King does not perform custom milling jobs unless customers want their log turned into a table. Schneider says fireplace mantles are popular, too.
Craney worked alongside his uncle for years before becoming his business partner in 2021. If a customer can dream it, the duo can build it. Wood is shaped and crafted six days a week in northwestern Vanderburgh County barns surrounded by corn and soybean fields.
“We’re out here pretty much every day working together,” Craney says. “We used to not take Sunday off, but it’s kind of nice to have a break.”
