The Kennett Square resident makes cabinets, tables, entertainment centers, deacon benches, coffee tables and flower boxes. But the finished product is only one part of the story.

To get the old wood which is the fabric of his work, Chandler combs the countryside, looking for old barns and wooden houses which are being torn down. He goes to flea markets and antique shops and looks for old nails, hinges, bolts and locks.

"An awful lot of time and work goes into each piece of furniture," Chandler says. "Finding the material, especially the old wood, is the most difficult part of the process. Once I find an old barn that's being brought down, I have to find the owner and negotiate a price, then haul it away and store it before I cut it and prepare it.

"Because I do all of the work myself, there's an advantage and a disadvantage. I'm solely responsible for the quality of the work, which I like, but I also have to be careful not to get strung out. People see the finished product but don't realize how much work is involved."

The hallmark of Chandler's furniture is its old and solid quality. While he most often works with old wood and materials, when he does use new wood, he strives to give it an old appearance. Old barns often provide the best material -- one gate latch, which is on a cabinet he recently finished, dates from about 1850. Many of the hinges and latches which he uses were cast by blacksmiths in the 1800s.

"At that time, things were built to be functional and to last," he says. "People still want that today."

Another challenge is to find old screws and carpenter's nails. Chandler uses the screws to connect the pieces, so if a screw ever has to be removed, it can be taken out with no damage to the wood. The nails are strictly for appearance.

Chandler recently showed his work at the Media Art Exhibit and Craft Fair, where, he said, he did very well. He learned his craft from an elderly Mennonite man from Lancaster County, who taught him the basics. Because he has been a carpenter all of his adult life, he was able to teach himself the rest.

"I had been in construction, doing the interior work of expensive houses, but it got to be really tedious," he says. "You're not working with the same people from day to day, you're at the mercy of the weather, and people want to pay you $10 an hour for 50 hours a week, with no benefits.

"So when I got laid off for lack of work, I had a decision to make: I could keep on with that, or go into business for myself, doing something I like."

Chandler also credits a strict teacher he had at vo-tech for teaching him how to use the kind of tools he needs for making furniture.

"I consider what I do to be hard work, but it's fun work; rummaging around in old barns and antique shops is fun. You find some neat things and meet a lot of interesting people. It's given me an opportunity to appreciate real things, like American history. I feel sorry for people who plop themselves in front of a television every night. There are so many real things out there they could be doing and enjoying."

When Chandler began his business six years ago, it took some time for word to circulate and for his reputation to build, but he relies on the quality of his work to carry his name.

"I stand behind all of the work I do, and if someone has a problem, I'll either repair it for free or replace it. But in six years, I've only had to do that once, because a joint came loose in a table. In that case, I gave the customer a new table and repaired the other one. Then I was able to sell it for full price.

"Everything here is made by me, and that's how I keep up the quality. I've found that if you're honest with people and you give them their money's worth, they'll come back and they'll recommend your work to their friends.

"I'm the only person around here doing this, as far as I know, and I do it to the best of my ability. That in itself is a good feeling."