What’s the first thing that someone usually notices when they drive past your home or pull up in your driveway? It’s your front doot. The front door to your home can make a big first impression and a bold statement about your personal style. Real estate agents will tell you that, along with landscaping, your front door is the key to giving your home the ultimate curb appeal.
Father and son, John and Dave Fetherolf, of Bent Nail Architectural Millwork, are the local experts in custom doors of all kinds. Bent Nail specializes in entry and interior doors for both residential and commercial projects. And, as their name would indicate, they handle a large spectrum of other custom woodworking projects besides doors.
When you visit their website, you will see the highest quality doors, moldings, window frames and furniture pieces on display. As Dave says, “Anything that deals with custom woodworking is within our scope of work. However most of what we do is custom doors. And all of our work is custom work. We don’t have a catalog to pick doors and other pieces from. Our customers come to us with a concept of what they want and we will build what’s needed for them.”
John started his company in 1981 in Huntington Beach, California. Originally a custom home builder, John eventually settled into a more specialized niche of door and architectural millwork pieces. When Dave was in eighth grade, he remembers working in his dad’s shop for the first time. As the years went on, Dave says that he learned more and more about the craft and is sure to credit his dad for teaching him everything he knows about woodworking.
Today, Dave runs the day-to-day operations at Bent Nail, but is quick to point out that his dad is still very much invested in what is going on at the shop. “My dad, who is 80, still comes to work every day,” he says. “He started this business from scratch and he bought every single piece of equipment in here. He’s still very involved with everything that goes on and with what I’m doing. That’s just who he is…he’s gonna come to work every day. He’ll never retire.”
Originally from the Lodi area, John moved his company back home from California in 1992. It took seven semi-trucks to get all of his equipment, tools and product moved across the country. He moved everything into his shop at 830 Bank St. in Lodi, and he's been there ever since.
Over the past 28 years, Bent Nail has been supplying local custom home builders, private homeowners, restoration and historical societies and large national commercial accounts with the finest doors and woodworking craftsmanship services in the area. Also in recent years, Bent Nail has seen its business grow nationally thanks to securing work for retail chains like Tommy Bahama, Vineyard Vines and Lands’ End.
Visit Bent Nail’s website at BentNailMillwork.com to view the large scope of work that they can do for you. When you see their work you will understand why they say, “If you have a custom project in mind, you’ve come to the right place.”
