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Northwoods Firearms/Customs – where accuracy meets artistry

Crandon shop restores, repairs firearms, offers Cerakote coating services

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February 3, 2025

CRANDON – “It’s not about sales but more about making memories.”

That phrase, Bobby Connor said, rings true daily with his passion for gunsmithing and as owner of Northwoods Firearms/Customs in Crandon.

Located at 409 E. Pioneer St., Connor said at Northwoods, the focus is on restoring/building a memory-making gun instead of worrying about making a quick sale.

“To me, that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “It’s not about sales, making a lot of money or competing with a big gun store. I wanted to make Northwoods Firearms/Customs a service-oriented business. If I wanted to open a shop and do a bunch of sales, I wouldn’t have opened this in Crandon. I get a lot of satisfaction from people traveling many miles because they know we can either build them something they can’t get somewhere else or repair something they can’t get done anywhere else.”

Connor said his customers travel from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Wausau and beyond.

“I wanted to have a trusted shop,” he said. “A lot of people have lake homes up here, so when they come to visit or vacation, they bring half their firearms with them. They don’t trust anyone from where they’re from because they don’t know who’s working on their stuff. They have a personal relationship with that firearm, and it’s a very important piece of their life. When they hand that gun off to somebody, they need to trust them.”

Connor said “little by little,” business is growing.

“The best way to market this business is from the customers you create – it’s word of mouth and person by person,” he said. “More people are coming into our store who I’ve never seen before, and it’s because of other people we’ve done things for. Instead of a mass advertising approach, the best way to get new customers is from referrals from other customers.”

Connor said so far, he’s never had a firearm “walk through that door I haven’t been able to figure out.”

“I’ve found in this world, true gunsmiths work together very closely,” he said. “It’s rare that between me and other colleagues who I know, we can’t either get a certain part or figure it out. After all, it’s about replicating what someone else did another time, right?”

Bobby Connor said one of his favorite parts of the job is restoring/repairing older firearms and bringing them “back to life.” Submitted Photo

Connor said he has fixed/restored thousands of firearms in his lifetime.

“I’ve yet to have one I haven’t been able to repair, or at least make it function pretty good,” he said. “Sometimes, the problem is a lot of the things being built – and that were built – weren’t always built to be repaired, just like modern appliances. At some point, (appliances) are meant to be tossed.”

Always a passion

Growing up in Crandon, but living in Laona a dozen miles away, Connor said his family has long been involved in the area’s timber industry.

“Because the timber industry has been a big part of my life, I went to school for science and forestry engineering, but I eventually realized I had a passion for guns – not so much the gun part of it, but the mechanicals… the ability to work on them and construct them,” he said. “I started gunsmithing full-time about five years ago and began Northwoods Firearms/Customs about three and a half years ago.”

Connor said he started gunsmithing in Laona in an office out of his business, Connor Forest Products.

“We did some sales and specialty things, and it kept growing into what it is today,” he said. “Eventually, I wanted out of the timber game, so I sold all that stuff. I wanted to do something that would mean more to the people around here.”

Connor said he’s always had a passion for gunsmithing – a tradition in his family passed down from past generations.

“My great-grandfather was a gunsmith for many years in Laona,” he said. “Unfortunately, he died when I was young, but my dad worked with him a lot and carried on a lot of his knowledge. Being a family that grew up in and built this area, it’s been a way of life. The firearm was a tool used to do many things. I feel my family embodies that American pioneer spirit, and to me, that needs to be preserved.”

Connor said his gunsmith training came from the “school of hard knocks.”

“You learn the techniques after years of working on firearms, learning from other gunsmiths and doing armory and firearms training,” he said. “A lot of gunsmithing is machining – working with lathes, mills, etc. If you can understand the machining part of it and know how to run some simple hand tools, the rest of it is mechanics. I’ve gone to as many trainings as I could and will continue to do so.”

Connor said there’s not a single gunsmith out there who would tell you they know it all.

“They all learn as they go,” he said. “Some focus on chambering rifles, while others are proficient in other areas. We’re constantly learning new things, but thankfully, most of it’s pretty old-school.”

Gun services

Connor said several types of people come into the shop for his gunsmith services.

“Usually, it’s either a request for some type of hunting rifle they want me to make, something they want to add to their collection, a gift or a restoration/reclaim project,” he said. “We do a lot of restorations and reclaims – replace parts, fix them, restore the stocks, fire damage, flood damage, rust, etc. I get people traveling great distances who bring me guns to restore. (The restoration part) of the business is probably 50% of what we do.”

Connor said he can virtually make any gun – regardless of condition – look almost new.

“Believe me, (we’ve) had some pretty ugly (junk) come through our doors,” he laughed. “For me, gunsmithing embodies the Connor family heritage. When I see guns come here that their great-granddad owned – and it’s not worth a lot of money to most gun shops, and they just scoff at people – that is special to me. The people around here value that piece of metal. They could be poor or rich, but at the end of the day, the value of that memory and that heritage is far greater than anything you could buy.”

Bobby Connor said another big part of the business is engraving firearms. He said you need proper licensure to do so. Submitted Photo

Connor said seeing people pass down memorable guns to future generations is probably the most rewarding part of his job.

“It’s a gun his dad owned, and he wants to pass it down to his own son,” he said. “This is what makes the firearm world unique, especially in the Upper Midwest. It’s blue-collar, but even some of our wealthiest customers use the oldest rifles because that was what their dad used. It connects them back to that childhood memory, and I love being the one to make that happen again.”

Historical pieces

Connor said he’s had many historical firearms come into the shop.

For example, he said he works on a lot of Damascus black powder muskets.

“Probably the most rewarding and the coolest ones are your WWI and WWII era guns – like an original 1911 pistol that was Army-issued,” he said. “They’re pieces of history that haven’t changed. We also get a lot of super old guns people want to restore enough to just see and showcase. We’ve done that for businesses who simply want to hang them in a conference room – we can make the rifles not shoot. Maybe it’s an 1845 Henry original lever action rifle that basically won the West.”

Other services

Connor said the shop also does custom knives and engraving.

He said to engrave a firearm, you have to be licensed.

“I’m the only one anywhere near here who does firearm engraving,” Connor said. “Not many people want to go through the rigmarole to engrave a firearm here or there. We will also engrave a gun specifically for events. We’ve engraved for the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association, the Farm Bureau and gun clubs. We’ve also done many youth shooting events where we’ll make a special edition engraved gun – doesn’t always have to be a gun – where they can raffle it off.”

Connor said the other main part of the business is applying Cerakote – “a ceramic coating that is virtually indestructible” – to various products.

“We are a certified applicator of Cerakote,” he said. “It’s a ceramic coating we apply to a lot of different things, from appliances to tools to car parts to computer parts and firearms. Cerakote is the best ceramic coating there is, period – nothing will take it off. It’s 99% non-porous, doesn’t retain water and won’t flake or chip. If you scratch it, it’ll continue to hold that scratch and won’t break. It’s the go-to coating on everything nowadays. Cerakote coating is basically what you apply to something because you don’t want to touch that part again.”

For more information on Northwoods Firearms/Customs, visit its Facebook page. 

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