About

Wood, metal, and forty-six years of knowing what to do with them.

Hostetler & Ludwig is a wood studio and CNC manufacturing facility in Athens, Ohio.

Jay Hostetler

Jay spent 46 years at Stewart-MacDonald, most of them as Vice President of Product Development. He grew up on a farm outside Athens, splitting time between the Appalachian forest and his father's art studio at Ohio University. Carving wood at seven. Building furniture by 1973.

Isaac Ludwig

Isaac Ludwig is a craftsman, machinist, designer, and manufacturer with a career spanning fine furniture, functional art, musical instrument components, CNC manufacturing, sawmilling, metalworking, and industrial production.

Growing up in Belize gave him an early connection to making things by hand, working with natural materials, and learning by doing. Over the years, that foundation has grown into a practice combining traditional craftsmanship with modern manufacturing—bringing advanced CNC technology to work once done entirely by hand while never losing sight of the material itself.

From one-of-a-kind furniture to repeatable production components, Isaac approaches the work the same way: understand the material, understand the problem, and make it well.

Today, through Hostetler & Ludwig, he brings those years of experience together in furniture, lutherie supply, and precision manufacturing—building useful, enduring things with care from the first idea to the finished piece.

Material

Reclaimed barn timbers. Salvaged steel. Native Appalachian hardwoods.

We choose materials for their strength, character, and history. A beam that held up a barn for a century carries something a new board simply cannot.

Rather than forcing material into a predetermined shape, we work with what is already there—the grain, weathering, figure, scars, and natural variation—and allow those qualities to help shape the finished piece.

Good material already has a voice.

Our job is to listen closely enough to use it well.

Sustainability

Sustainability here is less a statement than a way of working.

We use reclaimed timber, salvaged steel, and locally milled hardwoods whenever the project allows. Offcuts become smaller components. Scraps find their way into future work. Material that can no longer become a product helps heat the shop.

Very little is discarded simply because it is inconvenient to use.

It is practical, economical, and respectful of materials that may have taken a century to grow or generations to acquire their character.

Use what we have.

Waste as little as possible.

Build things worth keeping.