About

Woodworking: A Raedeker Family Tradition

For the Raedeker Family, the wood story (hence the name, Raed-wood), begins back in the late 1950’s when aerospace engineer Robert Raedeker began making mid-century furniture pieces, designed by his brother Jon Raedeker, in his garage in La Jolla, CA. Eventually he moved on from engineering to pursue his cabinet-making business full-time in Escondido, CA. Robert’s sons, Carl & Clay Raedeker, followed in their father’s footsteps joining the family business and eventually set out on their own, starting multiple cabinet-making and office furniture manufacturing businesses. Carl’s son, Derek Raedeker, began working in the family’s office furniture business in high school, starting with emptying waste bins and working on the sanding lines. Over the next few years, Derek was able to learn all aspects of the different production phases, everything from hands-on production, production planning and management of personnel, to using computers to publish catalogs, track daily production, produce CAD drawings, and write CNC programs. Due to increased market pressures and as a result of US-China trade policies, the company was forced to close by the end of 2004.

Starting in 2005, Derek moved on to learn various complementary trades such as traditional timber framing, wood window and door production, conventional framing and general carpentry, finish carpentry, construction project management, cabinet design, production, and installation. In late 2012, Derek & Katie, along with their two little boys, relocated from Southern California to Northwest Washington and settled in the town of Lynden, in Whatcom County. Having a long-time fascination with prefabricated construction, Derek was hired by Method Homes as a finish carpenter and eventually transitioned to a project manager position, having contributed on many of the renowned early projects Method completed in those years. It was a very exciting time for everyone involved. In January of 2016, Derek founded Raedwood. The original focus of the business was site-based subcontracting such as cabinet installation, interior trim, and specialty exterior siding. In 2017, Raedwood leased shop space in Blaine, WA, with intentions of transitioning the business to a shop-based model focusing on woodworking. The original floor space was 2k SF and over the next two years would be expanded to 8k SF. With the additions of floor space, machines and equipment, and the many different employees that have contributed to the development of the business and its multiple iterations of product development and production processes, in conjunction with the projects awarded to us by our key customers and the unwavering support from our fans, all have led us to where we are today. For all of this, we are eternally grateful to our God for His provision and blessings, to our country for our freedom to pursue our dreams through hard-work and determination, and to our customers and the surrounding communities for the opportunity to serve through providing the products and services we have to offer.