Monte's Woodshop: Where the dust never settles

The dust never settles at Monte’s Woodshop.

But don’t let the company’s name fool you, as there’s more than woodworking taking place behind the doors of Monte Albertson’s workshop nestled among the rural landscape along Six Mile Road.

“Odd stuff, that’s what we do,” says Albertson, 54.

Albertson’s passion for woodworking goes back to his middle school shop class, where he was first introduced to the trade. His love for woodworking continued into high school, where his shop teacher – who doubled as the football coach – allowed him access to the shop during his free time. Albertson knew he was hooked on the hobby when he invested the money he’d earned mowing the cemetery to buy tools. 

And while woodworking was his passion, Albertson kept it in his back pocket as a hobby until the early 1990s. In 1993, he made the switch from service department manager at Terry Schulte Chevrolet – a job he’d had for nine years – to that of home-based business owner. 

“I had always been working in my basement and garage,” he recalls, “and I was always making something for someone at night – an entertainment center for someone at work or there was always something for the relatives.”

Taking a leap of faith, Albertson said he was fortunate that his wife, Lonna had a good job that could financially support the family. 

“Not everybody could do that,” he says, “and if you need some income, it ain’t happening, especially when this is laser number eight, and this is a $35,000 machine. The other ones were at least $25,000, and they don’t hold their value like a vehicle when you trade it off.”

Like many trades, when technology came into play, Albertson ventured into other avenues to help keep the business afloat. 

“It takes a lot of time to hone your (woodworking) skills,” he said. “It’s more designed I think to be a hobby, because it’s hard to make a living at it, so I found a way how to do that.”

Laser engraving, sandblasting, signs and furniture and antique restoration were added to his business offerings. 

“I still do the woodworking, which is probably only now about 25 percent of the business,” he said. 

One of Albertson’s first contracts was with Aerostar International, which produces hot air balloons. The company asked Albertson to build the skids for the hot air balloon baskets. The job came his way when Carolyn Bills, a longtime bus driver for the Brandon Valley School District, spied Albertson’s business sign while picking up the Albertson kids.

“They did the weaving of the baskets and said we’d really like to find someone else to do this, can you do it? And so, I made the first prototype and they said that was better than what they were getting, so I did all of their hot air balloons until they quit doing them – hundreds and hundreds of hot air balloon skids, which was probably taking up 25 percent of my business then,” he tells.

Albertson’s first significant lasering contract was secured with the State of South Dakota and the late Governor Bill Janklow. 

“He was ordering a bunch of stuff (for the Governor’s Pheasant Hunt, the Buffalo Round Up, etc.) and didn’t want to do business outside of South Dakota,” Albertson said.

Albertson trademarked his creations of coasters that were given to anyone who donated $100 to the veteran’s memorial. 

“They said they would maybe need 500 coaster sets. Well, we made 5,000 coaster sets and there’s four engravings per set, so there’s 20,000 engravings on one job, and every one of them had a sticker on the bottom … and then the phone started ringing, so we got a second laser.”

No two days are ever alike at Monte’s Woodshop, where Albertson, son Jason and a handful of subcontractors will have their hands on a variety of projects. And with 4,000 customers in the 24-year-old company’s data base, it’s easy to see why. 

On this particular day, Albertson needs to incorporate elk antlers into a shelf that will hold Teddy bears. A pile of cutting boards in the shape of South Dakota and bread boards are stacked up and ready to be packaged for shipment. The finishing touches need to be made to a table filled with house address stones. 

“We get really busy at Christmastime. Address stones for new homes going up has nothing to do with Christmas but we have day to day jobs that we have to do. Then you dump on the stuff that’s Christmas-related, then there’s more,” he said.

Monte’s Woodshop produces address stones for brick suppliers, such as Hebron, contractors and independent brick layers. 

“They go to Northwest Iowa to Aberdeen, we even ship some to Omaha,” he said. “And we’ll do 1,000, and that’s a 1,000 new homes, and that’s just the ones with brick and stone, so that’s a lot of houses. I judge the economy in this area by the number of stones we do.”

Albertson said they’re able to produce about 20 address stones per day.

Address stones is just one of the many materials that the company is able to sandblast. Rocks, headstones, pavers, tile, glass, wood and metal prep/rust removal are among those materials. 

“The week that Grand Falls Casino was going to open, they decided they wanted four boulders done, so they put them on a truck and brought them out here. You couldn’t lift any of them so we did four of them right on the truck. We took them back, set them and the next day they opened,” he said.

His work can also be found in the 1,700 pavers at Veteran’s Memorial Park or on engraved titles at hunting lodges/hotels in South Dakota.  He’s also been asked to sandblast furniture, tractors, and motorcycle frames, to name a few. 

“We’re the budget location for headstones,” he adds. 

Albertson also produced all of the furniture for the 54 resident rooms at Bethany Home-Brandon, which included a wardrobe, nightstand and headboard. 

“That was a scary thing to try to pull off,” Albertson said. “As they were constructing it, not all of the rooms were done at once, so were just delivering as they were getting done, which worked out awesome.”

Next to the state of South Dakota, Bethany is Monte’s Woodshop No. 1 customer, he adds.

Another longtime endeavor – 18 years to date – is engraving serial numbered wine bottles for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. 

He was also the creator of a Christmas ornament that would represent South Dakota on the White House Christmas tree in 2001. He designed Laura Ingalls Wilder’s surveyor house from De Smet.

He, along with the vendors of the other state ornaments, was invited to have lunch at the White House with former First Lady Laura Bush. The ornament, Mrs. Bush told him, would be retired to the Presidential Library when her husband leaves office.

“I need to go to Texas to see it again,” he said.

Apples, cucumbers and bananas, basketballs, footballs and animal hides, he says, are among some of the oddest items he’s engraved. 

“The apple was a centerpiece,” he shares. “You can even put a pumpkin pie in there and engrave it.”

Monte’s Woodshop also has the ability to make signs, whether it be wooden, polymetal, vehicle/trailer lettering or banners. 

“For a while, we did all of Avera’s cars and trucks and ambulances, and all of that stuff. We don’t have a heated indoor building, so we had to step away from that,” he said.

Albertson delights in furniture and antique restoration, but said the time-consuming work is not as profitable.

Albertson said the local public has supported his business well.

“They treat us like their neighborhood blacksmith or cobbler,” he said. And the smiles he sees on the faces of his customers “can be worth more than the pay.”

“There’s a few customers that don’t have any money, so we just don’t charge them. Last week, someone paid me with potatoes and onions,” he shared.

Every year, some of Albertson’s handiwork finds its way under Christmas trees, too.  

“When I think about Christmas morning, everybody’s opening all of that stuff, and I wonder if they like it. I wonder about that, hopefully, it’s stuff that everybody likes and makes their day,” he said.