MARSHFIELD – In the country fields in the town of Richfield, sits an unassuming farm, but what goes on inside is a story in coming home to find success.
Austin Pickhard of Pickhard’s Workshop was raised on that farm, graduating from Marshfield High School in 2014.
In 2017, he joined the Air Force, where he stumbled into a new craft.
“I kind of got into the CNC and lasering while on my first deployment. They had one there, and I kind of just took off with it. So I thought, ‘I am going to come home and start using it,’ Austin recalled.
“I’ve been doing woodworking since I was eight. My grandpa used to do woodworking. The house that I live in now, that was my grandparents’ house, so I learned how to do woodworking in that very house. I took it over three or four years ago now. Originally, I pretty much had the whole basement as my shop. Now, I need a bit bigger area, and I don’t like taking four-by-eight sheets of plywood into my basement. So, we moved on from there, but that’s how I started woodworking.
“For the Air Force, I actually do structures. We do anything from framework — small hobby stuff that I do for my business — to welding, so a wide range of stuff.
“When I was deployed in 2021 in Kuwait, they had a laser engraver there that didn’t work, so I took two days trying to figure out how to make it work so I could play around with it.
“I got it to work and started doing it there. The higher-ups got wind of that, and they were like. ‘Oh, can you make us a plaque? Can you do this?’ So, you find out that there is a market for laser engraving.
“So, then, they also had a CNC machine show up a month before I left, and I did my research while I was in Kuwait. Came back, got my first machine.”
Austin, who is a volunteer with the nearby Richfield Fire Department, started his own woodworking business in 2021.
It wasn’t long before he found his niche with cribbage boards, which he said he accidentally stumbled into, starting first with a design found on Etsy.
“The one we started with, and which we still carry, is Etsy has a large variety of files that you can use for commercial use, so we purchased one on there and found that it was a big hit,” he said.
Soon, his wife, Kelsey, began to create new designs.
Two years later, Pickhard’s Workshop offers cribbage boards in the shape of any state, but Austin said that Wisconsin and Texas are the most popular.
Austin can also make custom boards and works in wall décor, table tops and other custom products, and connects with most customers online, by word of mouth and through Facebook Marketplace.
Pickhard’s products are available at The 715, inside The Coven in Marshfield.
To find out more, visit www.thesevenonefive.com/vendors.
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