Amish Furniture Craftsmen

We get a lot of questions about our Amish neighbors and the fine furniture they build for us.

A strong part of the Amish lifestyle involves church and family. One way that they are able to stengthen their faith is thru living their beliefs. That inlcudes many aspects of the Amish life including such things ad their dress, transportation, and a lot of the small details of their everyday life. The Amish believe that keeping a close family enhances their ability to follow their faith, and to help stengthen their family life, they would prefer to work at home, or with relatives, or in any case inside the Amish community.

This leads to smaller shops, many of them just a father and son or daughter. The Arthur Amish community is home to hundreds of small shops. Many Amish shops work on components or subassemblies, and others do final assemblies or finishing. A few Amish shops build everything from the start to the end. Some specialize in certain types of  products such as kitchen cabinetry, tables, or in gun cabinets, while others have the ability to create a wide variety of challenging items. In the course of a year, we pretty much deal with all of them here.

Our Arthur Amish tend to work in the primary American hardwoods, like oak, cherry, maple, hickory and walnut. Some Amish shops have the ability to create fashion designs or intricate custom work, Other prefer to work within their base standards. We sort that out finding the most appropriate Amish craftsman for the particular design piece. Not all Amish have the creative skills to create every item.

Most of our Amish craftsmen's shops do not bother with showrooms. Working with folks like us rather than the general public allow them to forego having to maintain a showroom inventory, not having to advertise (which can be interpreted as boasting) and certainly keeps them off the internet, and minimises their personal contacts with the "English" and the outside world. 

About the Amish shops and tools. We describe our products as hand crafted, but large tools and machines are used in much of the work. Table saws, lathes, large multi belt sanders, and power hand tools are commonly used. Most of the tools have the same brand names you'll find in Home Depot or Menard's. The difference here is that these tools have been converted by Amish machine shops to operate on compressed air, hydraulic motors, or by belt drive from line shafts often designed into the floor. The power sources are driven by large deisel engines out back that also run generators to recharge the necessary batteries  for the Amish eclectrical needs. The Amish are not anti-electricity per se, but want to avoid the "connection" to the modern world and its influeneces. The connection in this case is the wires bringing in the electricity from the outside.

Most of our Arthur Amish craftsmen's shops are within about 5 miles of Arthur. But those miles add up as we have to run orders out to the shops, one often 4-5 miles to the south and the next 4-5 miles to the north. Then a few job check ups along the way, and a final inspection of the orders before bringing it into the store or scheduling a deliver to your home. Phone calls or emails would be quicker, but they don't work in this world.

We have lived here in the small rural community of Arthur all our lives and have many close friends in the Arthur Amish community. We have a strong background in both woodworking and mainstreet retail and appreciate the value of promoting products made here in the Arthur Amish community. We hope you choose to learn more about the products we offer from the Amish community here in Arthur, Illinois.

For more information on Arthur, the local Illinois Amish community and the goings-on around here visit www.IllinoisAmishCountry.com . You may choose enjoy a visit to Arthur!