Our Story

A smarter man than me once said:

“Start with Why…”

We believe that people deserve heirloom quality furniture at affordable prices.

My motivation began years ago, when I went to a name brand furniture showroom, found a couch and love seat set that I liked, and spent an obscene amount of money to buy it. Within 1 year, the fabric was fraying, the arms were wobbly and overall, the furniture was falling apart. Sure, there was a warranty, just jump though these 15 hoops, bring the receipt and all the original tags, and we will give you a new (or repaired) version of the stuff that just fell apart. Wait, What? The tags still had to be on the pillows? All the money I spent, got piled up out at the curb and went to the landfill. I replaced it with less expensive low quality furniture, which in fact, lasted about as long, but at least I paid less for it.

I have a friend, who went to a furniture chain and bought a beautiful dinning room set, a table and 6 chairs. within 1 year, the bottoms of 2 of the chairs collapsed under normal use. All of the chairs were loose and wobbly. The table legs were wobbly too. My friend asked me if I would fix the chairs for them, because they had spent close to $6000.00 on the set. I took it back to my workshop, pulled the fabric off the chairs and the bottoms were made of 1/4 inch particle board. I replaced it with 3/8 inch oak plywood, reattached the fabric, and attended to the loose bolts in the table and chairs. Then returned everything with the promise, “If those bottoms ever fail again, for any reason, Just call me, I will come get them and fix them for free. Unless its because you used it to hold up your truck. Then there will be a small fee.”

Another time, I went in to an Amish furniture store, and started inspecting a desk. No doubt, I have some preconceived notions about what I expect from the Amish, and I may be wrong, but after a minute, I had to ask the hovering sales person … “When did the Amish start using particle board and power tools?”, to which she replied, “They don’t, this is all hand made.” I pointed to the machine marks on the particle board, and left.

I consistently walk in to furniture stores, be they brick and mortar stand-alone stores, or shopping mall giants, and time after time, its the same thing. Very high prices, and very low quality. Every time, I think to myself, “For what they are charging, this should be made of real wood, using real joinery, and should last for at least 100 years.”

And worst of all, on trash day, driving down any street, how much furniture do we all see, lining the curbs and sitting by dumpsters, on its way to the landfill. All that hard earned money, and all those natural (and some unnatural) resources, headed to the great trash heap of a disposable society.

We believe that people deserve better. You deserve value for your dollar. We believe that if you buy something, it should last. We believe that our natural resources are not unlimited and if managed correctly, and used appropriately, they are renewable, and reliable.

Our Promise to you:

We guarantee everything we make, for life. I don’t care if its a Christmas Ornament, a family keepsake, a children’s toy, or a piece of furniture. If we made it, and you used it as intended, we guarantee materials and workmanship, for life.

Where are we located:

Valkyrie Fine Woodworking has moved to Horton, Michigan. This is our headquarters, our workshop and where we hang our hats. There is no team of “skilled craftsmen” in Vietnam, India, nor China. We are not importers, we are not re-sellers. We are makers, we are craftsmen, we are neighbors.

Meet the Owners:

Charlie Stone:

Returning to his Roots:

Life takes many turns, and as it turns out, the desire to work with his hands and create tangible objects has motivated a change in direction. Almost as if he were guided by some otherworldly force…

Kara Stone:

The Future:

Looking forward, we hope to grow the business and have the opportunity to give back to those who gave so much. One of our primary goals is to be able to employ disabled veterans.