Al Swanson: Exquisite Fly Fishing Woodwork

Pete recently wrote a piece about luxury rod tubes that caught my attention, especially the wooden ones made by Montana’s Al Swanson. Al liked our Instagram post, and we struck up a conversation. After I saw that he wasn’t just about rod tubes and fly boxes, I knew I had to interview him. Pete and I often dream about our perfect retirement home, which will no doubt include all sorts of fishy furniture. Al’s stuff has crept into those dreams.

HPFC: What is your background and training in woodworking?

SWANSON: Fifty years old as of this past August, born and raised just outside of Portland, Maine. I grew up on a little farm with six brothers and sisters. We raised animals and cut firewood and we were pretty much self-sustaining, as that’s what you did back in the 70s. Living in the woods there were spectacular trees that my Dad would harvest wood from and then create extraordinary works of art. We had to make things that we needed on the farm so we made them out of wood.

It was then that I fell in love with woodworking and that passion continues to this day.

Fast forward, I was still into word working in the Portland area and had a pretty good business for quite a while. Then in the late 90s I caught up with family in Montana and moved. Although it was a tough thing to do for someone who was 30 years old, I have never looked back.

Backing up a little, I went to the University of Maine and studied business and was a hockey player but I was so in love with the outdoors that found an agronomy program at Rutgers in New Jersey which led him to work on golf courses. The best thing that came out of this is that I have the best yard in the neighborhood.

HPFC: Was the combination of woodworking and fishing immediately obvious to you? How did it develop?

SWANSON: We had a stream in the back of our yard growing up, and all the kids would go down to catch whatever fish, not trout in particular, were in the stream, and to pass the time. It wasn’t until my teens when I got into wood working. We had a little shop in the barn to make things we needed for the house, cow stalls, picnic table or you name it we made it. It just called me. It just always beckoned me, I didn’t have any formal training in it except for a gentleman I met later in my 20s who was an amazing cabinet maker from Boston. He took me under his wing, taught me so much, not just about wood working but how to be a good person, have character and treat your clients with respect. He passed a few years ago but he made a huge impression on my life.

HPFC: What types of fishing do you like Do you get any time to fish or are you too busy?

SWANSON: A lot of people thought I moved to Montana to fish but I didn’t. I moved to Montana because I wanted a change. I had family here. That being said, I am an hour to the Blackfoot River and 10 minutes to the Missouri River. I didn’t really fly fish until I moved here. I introduced myself to the local fellows at the fly shop and they gave me recommendations and I just do it a lot. My son, now 15, is really into it and I can be done at work at 4 pm and we can go outside my back door, get on the Missouri River. and just fish and observe the amazing scenery. I mean there are people that come from all over the world to fish in my backyard.

HPFC: We first learned about you through your luxury rod tubes. Where did the idea for those come from?

SWANSON: So the rod tubes in particular, I worked with one of the Orvis company product developers for several years and a couple years ago they asked if I could make a high end wooden rod case. I said, “Probably. I’ve never done it but that’s what I do.:

So what do you do, you go online and look at what everybody else is making and I didn’t see anything that I really loved. And if I did, everything seemed to be in a hexagon form, pretty chunky, clunky and I thought if I could make something as exquisite as my dining tables or chest of drawers, that I have been doing for 30 years, then I may have a winner.

They let me loose and I figured out how to do it, how to make them round and with time, that’s what it takes to make things come together, and I really dial it in and again the 30 years of furniture building kind of helped and we got it done.

HPFC: What differentiates your craftsmanship from some other custom items on the market?

SWANSON: That’s in the eye of the beholder. It’s really easy to sit and toot your own horn. I’ve been in the fly fishing industry for about five or six years, and I have gotten feedback from people all over the world. The materials, the craftmanship of how you put it all together, the style, the look, the appearance, the color, the detail and the inlays. It’s the feedback such as this, from others that have seen my work, that tells me my work is good. Also, it’s not just the actual product itself, it’s the experience you get when you come to me. I talk to you, I find out what you are actually looking for.

I have a client in the UK, and although we will never meet, I have a picture of him in my head, and he purchases from me often. He tells me what he wants and before I make it I send him pictures and ask him which one he likes, one through five. He says, “I really like number 3.” I do this as I know he is particular in the colors he wants and I don’t want to make him something he doesn’t want to look at. That’s not what I am all about.

HPFC: Do you feel like most of your fishing items are for display or are they actually in use?

SWANSON: I received a call from a guy in California who received one of my items as a gift and he also wanted to purchase one as a gift. I asked him how he liked his and how it was working. He said I am looking at it right now it’s sitting on a bookcase and he sent me pictures. He said there is no way on earth I am taking it on the water. It’s too beautiful. It’s too precious. I told him it is designed to be used, they are water resistant, but I can’t dictate what the end user does. So I would say it is probably 50/50 used and/or displayed.

HPFC: How did you get partnered with Orvis?

SWANSON: About 10 years ago this young fishing guide came to my shop as he had a broken net. He wanted it fixed up, wanted more length to the handle and yada yada yada. I hadn’t done anything in the fly fishing industry at this point. I fly fished but I was a furniture maker. Mutual friends sent him my way. He told me the story about the net, that it was his Grandpa’s and then his Dad’s and it came from back east (I’m from back east) and so was I so I decided, “I’ll do it.”

He picked it up and he was so grateful. A few months passed and the mutual friends asked me if I had ever fixed the net for that guy. I told them I did and they said, “You know who that guy was, right?” All I know is his name is Simon. Well, he’s Simon Perkins and his family owns the Orvis company and he’s the president.

Fast forward, Simon gets married and moves back east. All his fly fishing guide buddies contact me and chipped in and had me make him a coffee table. Simon loved the table and that was that.

When I came up with the fly box idea, I built two of them, I named them the Blackfoot and the Missouri and they were super cool. I contacted Simon and told him he needed to check out these products. Simon said, “Send them my way and I will make sure the right people get their hands on them. The right people got their hands on them, they loved them and they asked how many could I make? Well we made thousands and we sold out in three days, which was a huge indication that we were on to something. That was the beginning of my partnership with Orvis, since 2014. We are still great partners and the largest retailer that we represent.

HPFC: What pieces of furniture or fishing equipment are you most proud of?

SWANSON: Every single piece. I work with my team. I call it a team, but it’s just me and my co-worker Patrick. He makes all the fishing equipment (which I oversee) and I make all the furniture. But every single piece is made from a unique piece of wood, the inlays are specific to the person or situation and that makes me want to, and I do, personally sign my name to every piece, no stamp, no brand. I am proud of every single one. So it’s really hard to say pick one, because they are all my favorite.

HPFC: Do you take custom orders? If so, what type of projects have you undertaken?

SWANSON: In the furniture making realm, I don’t have a standard line of pieces but I have a distinctive look. I love when people who I have never met contact me and they say, “I was at so and so’s house and saw their furniture and I knew it was yours.” There is a recognizable aesthetic. Everything I do is a one of a kind. In the fishing industry people will tell me they have a two-piece rod, they need an extra-long case, they want this kind of wood and they want this that and the other thing and I say sure, it may be a something I haven’t done before but that is what I do best. I love a challenge.

The best part is people call my company and they expect to talk to an operator and they get me. I love speaking with my clients and making those relationships.

HPFC: How long does it take to create a custom item?

SWANSON: It’s a question I get a lot and the answer is 30 years. If someone ordered a fly box today, I could make it in an hour. If they ordered five I could make them in an hour and a half, with 30 years of experience. To cure and finish takes more time and we do more than one at a time but we have such a system, it’s become a production. We’ve got it down pat.

HPFC: Are there still additional projects you’d like to try but have not yet had a chance to do so?

SWANSON: Absolutely. The Catch 22 of being an artist is that there is no end to the ideas that I have and the things I want to do. One of my ideas that I want to do by Christmas, which is basically now, is to make some simple but beautiful cutting boards, things for the home. Not everyone is into fly fishing. We take the trim cuts, pieces that are too narrow, or they just don’t fit the bill and we save them and those can be made into amazing cutting boards, charcuterie boards or some other creation. The ideas are limitless. There’s just not enough time to do them all and that is a conundrum of any artist.

HPFC: You also teach woodworking classes – who is your typical student?

SWANSON: What I love to have for my typical student is one that has no experience at all. You are just an accident waiting to happen. The ones that come in stating they have a lot of experience tend to have bad habits. The ones with no experience get the most fulfillment. When they walk in on a Saturday morning with a blank stare on their face as they have never seen any of the machines they will be using and the walk out on Sunday with a piece of furniture, you can just see the joy on their faces. Like the accountant that came to my class, a bean counter, very analytic and to see a whole other person come out of them, that’s what I love. That’s a pretty awesome feeling.

HPFC: In an era of increased mass production, is it important for you to pass on the art of handcrafted creations?

SWANSON: Without question! We will never get rid of mass produced production, it’s just never going to happen, it’s just part of our culture. I don’t ever try to compete, I obviously can’t compete pricewise but they just aren’t as good. People tell me we are more expensive than our competitors. We might be more expensive, but we put more hours into it, we probably make less per hour than our competitor but our work is just that much better.

I have realized, more and more, people just love wooden things. It’s tangible. It’s not plastic. It’s warm, it’s smooth and they stare at it every time they walk by it. I think the more competition the better. There is always room for well-made work. Period.

HPFC: Where are you located?

SWANSON: The shop is one mile from my home, in the city limits of Helena, Montana. I go upstairs to my office and overlook the Sleeping Giant which is pretty awesome.

HPFC: Anything else people need to know about you or your work?

SWANSON: They need to know, when they work with me and my little team, it takes time. We don’t stock pieces, per se. We build to order, there is a little bit of a wait and they may pay a little bit of a premium but when you have it in hand, when you talk to us on the phone, talk to me on the phone, we go out of our way to get you exactly what you want because more and more and more, especially in the era of the COVID pandemic, everything has gone to online. Oftentimes I have made some great relationships between email and/or phone with people I will probably never meet. However it’s the relationship you create with that person that keeps them coming back again and again and again to collect the work. 

My conversation with Al continued long after my formal interview questions stopped. I felt as if I had known him forever. He is smart, interesting, very well spoken and easy to talk to. I don’t want to be one of those people who never gets to meet Al Swanson. We have made a pact to keep in touch and I hope that not only do I somehow acquire one of his pieces, be it for fishing or home décor, but also that I get a chance meet up and fly fish with him. I promised I would bring the wine.