What is a Woodworking Machine Operator?

Career Description Set up, operate, or tend woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, and wood nailing machines. May operate CNC equipment.

A Day in the Life of a Woodworking Machine Operator

• Start machines, adjust controls, and make trial cuts to ensure that machinery is operating properly.
• Install and adjust blades, cutterheads, boring-bits, or sanding-belts, using hand tools and rules.
• Remove and replace worn parts, bits, belts, sandpaper, or shaping tools.
• Examine raw woodstock for defects and to ensure conformity to size and other specification standards.
• Operate gluing machines to glue pieces of wood together, or to press and affix wood veneer to wood surfaces.
• Start machines and move levers to engage hydraulic lifts that press woodstocks into desired forms and disengage lifts after appropriate drying times.

What a Woodworking Machine Operator Should Know

Below is a list of the skills most Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders say are important on the job.

Operation Monitoring: Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.

Operation and Control: Controlling operations of equipment or systems.

Quality Control Analysis: Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.

Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Other Woodworking Machine Operator Job Titles

• Fastener
• Speed Belt Sander Tender
• Band Nailer
• Lathe Spotter
• Rabbet Operator

Is There Going to be Demand for Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders?

In 2016, there was an estimated number of 77,100 jobs in the United States for Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing.

There is little to no growth in job opportunities for Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders. The BLS estimates 8,400 yearly job openings in this field per year.

The states with the most job growth for Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing are Florida, Georgia, and Texas.

Watch out if you plan on working in North Carolina, Kansas, or Vermont. These states have the worst job growth for this type of profession.

What is the Average Salary of a Woodworking Machine Operator

The salary for Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing ranges between about $20,870 and $44,420 a year. The median salary is $29,730.

How much do Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing make in different U.S. states?

Annual Mean Salary by State

State	Annual Mean Salary
Wyoming	$41,170
Connecticut	$40,440
Nevada	$38,300
Massachusetts	$37,660
Colorado	$37,050
Alaska	$36,660
New Mexico	$36,440
Minnesota	$36,320
Hawaii	$36,070
Oregon	$35,950
Washington	$35,530
New York	$35,300
New Hampshire	$35,240
Montana	$34,530
Iowa	$33,680
North Dakota	$33,570
Idaho	$33,350
Illinois	$33,310
Pennsylvania	$33,220
New Jersey	$33,090
Rhode Island	$32,730
California	$32,360
Kansas	$32,160
Maryland	$32,160
Vermont	$31,650
Louisiana	$31,570
Wisconsin	$31,510
Ohio	$31,500
Oklahoma	$31,190
Utah	$31,160
Indiana	$31,140
Michigan	$30,870
Maine	$30,240
Nebraska	$30,160
South Dakota	$29,800
Mississippi	$29,660
North Carolina	$29,630
West Virginia	$29,430
South Carolina	$29,360
Florida	$29,150
Missouri	$28,940
Tennessee	$28,800
Virginia	$28,730
Alabama	$28,600
Arkansas	$28,110
Kentucky	$27,700
Georgia	$27,650
Arizona	$27,500
Texas	$26,790

What Tools do Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders Use?

Below is a list of the types of tools and technologies that Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders may use on a daily basis:

• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Windows

How to Become a Woodworking Machine Operator

What education or degrees do I need to become a Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, or Tender?

How Long Does it Take to Become Woodworking Machine Operator?

Where Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders Are Employed

Other Jobs You May be Interested In

Career changers with experience as a Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, or Tender sometimes find work in one of the following fields:

• Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics

College Factual

O*NET Online

Image Credit: Via Wikimedia Commons