Craftsman Profile: Cliff Faulkner

Since childhood, Cliff Faulkner’s life has always revolved around wood, from delivering firewood to learning about all the different species. As a young boy, Faulkner and his father would drive into the woods with a tractor and a truck bed to cut cordwood, which are short pieces of debarked tree used as firewood, and deliver it throughout their local community of Fitzwilliam, NH. As a result of spending his days in the woods with his father, Faulkner’s knowledge and passion for wood and the different species greatly increased evolving into his current lifetime profession.

After high school, Faulkner began working at a local wood mill on the green chain sorting lumber, collecting desired boards and stacking them onto a cart. Within six months he was promoted and moved inside the mill. Within the mill, Faulkner worked the trim saw for close to three years where his talent was quickly noticed. He soon progressed to operating the dry kilns, making wood usable by removing its moisture, which he did for five years.

Looking for an opportunity within another company, as well as his need for a larger career challenge, Faulkner joined the leading makers of wide plank floors, Carlisle Wide Plank Flooring based in New Hampshire. Bringing with him years of experience in wood flooring and more than eight years of experience in bulk wood sales, Faulkner was pleased to join a team of enthusiastic workers who shared his same passion for wood. He found that Carlisle craftsmen worked as a unit both inside and outside of the mill. As a very tight group, the craftsmen expand their relationships outside of their work environment having after hour’s gatherings.

Faulkner is a loyal and passionate Carlisle flooring employee, having installed white oak flooring in his own home, which he says adds a more rustic look. Pleased with his custom Carlisle flooring, Faulkner keeps in mind the quality he expected in his own home when crafting a floor for others. At Carlisle, since he assembles the orders of hardwood floors, Faulkner is very selective when choosing planks, keeping in mind each individual job, making sure they are compatible in size and appearance.

“My primary goal is to craft the best looking floor all of the time, no matter how big or small,” Faulkner explained. “I take immense pride in giving all of my customers the finest wood floor that I can create.”

Faulkner enjoys working with hardwoods daily, especially hickory since it has great wood character. In fact, wood character is Faulkner’s favorite thing about working with wood. He loves being able to see how a tree grew, noting where its branches were or if it had burrowing insects. By selecting interesting milled pieces of wood like this, Faulkner helps to create what he calls a conversation piece for the home. Faulkner believes that wood flooring is all about the quality of the end product, how it looks installed.

In closing, for other craftsmen, Faulkner has one piece of advice - “If it is good enough for you, then it is probably good enough for the client.”