Fells Hardwood Supply started as a side project in Jamie and David Fells’ garage, and has grown into a business aimed at filling a gap in the Central Texas woodworking community.
The backstory
The couple launched Fells Hardwood Supply after realizing many local lumber suppliers lacked hands-on woodworking knowledge. Now, from their new Hutto storefront, they’re helping hobbyists and professionals find quality materials, custom pieces and in-person woodworking education.
Jamie and David Fells both work full time jobs, and started Fells Hardwood with the goal to make woodworking more accessible to people in the area.
“We learned very quickly that in Central Texas, in general, there was not a lot of businesses that had employees that were woodworkers,” Jamie said. “So there was a void in knowledge for people who were selling.”
Both Jamie and David took shop in high school and decided to start the business as a way to de-stress from their full-time jobs.
The pair started by selling wood out of their garage in April 2025, and opened a brick-and-mortar location in Hutto last April. The shop offers premium woods as well as custom work on items such as tables, desks, shelves and countertops.
“We started with buying just what we needed and then we noticed prices where we were going were a lot better than here. Everything in Austin was very marked up,” Jamie said. “So we started buying extra and [David] was like, ‘Maybe I can sell the extra.’ So it just exploded.”
Several of the other supply shops in the Central Texas area are not actually woodworkers, Jamie said.
“It’s just a sales job for them,” Jamie said. “They’ll tell you whatever they need to sell stuff. And that’s not what it is here.”
What they offer
Jamie said they offer a lot of exotic woods, and this is a highlight for several customers. Exotics are anything not grown in the U.S., and Fells Hardwood’s specialty is canarywood. Their second most popular seller is the domestic walnut, followed by olive.
Jamie primarily uses wood to make kitchen utensils, bookmarks and coasters, while David does shelves, desks, tables, and cutting boards.
As part of the grand opening of their brick-and-mortar location, David has started offering woodworking classes. The first class was focused on hand tools, and the second was a dovetail class. Jamie said he’s hoping to do two to four classes a month.
“It’s been popular so far,” Jamie said. “There’s been a lot of questions and inquiries about it because there’s not a lot of places to learn that stuff, especially in person. Most people have to watch videos and kind of figure it out. Hands on teaching has been nice.”
The ultimate goal is to eventually expand, Jamie said.
“We’re a very small mom-and-pop business and we are funding this pretty much ourselves, so we just have to be patient and let the business grow,” Jamie said.
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