INTERVIEW: Twin brothers become ‘Redwood Kings’ on Animal Planet

Friday nights on Animal Planet are for lovers of tree houses. In addition to Treehouse Masters, the animal-themed network recently debuted Redwood Kings, a reality series that follows the business prospects and intricate carving of twin brothers Ron and John Daniels. They are proprietors of Daniels Wood Land, a company that specializes in customized tree houses, shooting galleries and themed environments.

They’ve been in the business for 15 years, and now the “kings” are showcasing their craftsmanship Fridays at 9 p.m. For the twins, the business began back on their farm.

“John and I, we grew up on a horse ranch with our older brother, Jim,” Ron said recently during a phone interview. “We always had to work hard and earn a living by the sweat of our brow, even as kids. The whole family worked together to take care of things, and when you do something like that, by the time you’re 18, you’re a skilled carpenter, an electrician, and a plumber, and a welder and all these things that go along with running a ranch and taking care of 80 head of horses.”

Ron moved off the ranch and got married while John stayed behind, “riding horses and doing those kinds of things to earn his room and board.” Eventually John took up chainsaw carving to make extra spending cash, and his reputation for artistry was born.

“He came up with this concept to build a tree house that comes with its own tree,” Ron said. “This huge log that he came across, and he wanted to build a crooked playhouse on top of it. And then that wasn’t good enough, so he took the house off and knocked the log over. And he hollowed it out with the chainsaw, and, lo and behold, this amazing tree house popped off. I remember coming home to see the family from grad school, and there’s this tree house, and it just made me weak in the knees. It was amazing. It was incredible.”

The brothers attended a trade show in Los Angeles on a “wing and a prayer.” They didn’t even have enough money to get through the first day or enough for gas to get home. Their goal was to receive a down payment from some customer to pay for their expenses. They didn’t expect to sell one tree house, and they walked away from the trade show with 17 orders.

“It was mind-boggling because it was a serendipitous kind of a moment,” Ron said. “The stars and moon just lined up right. I mean people would come in the booths, and they were flabbergasted. They were blown away. They were feeling the same thing I felt, and my goodness, we didn’t even have any of the right answers. They’d say, ‘Can you put a swing on the side?’ And we’re like, ‘Sure, I guess we can.’ And then they said, ‘Can you put a balcony over here?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘What would that look like?’ ‘I don’t know. Let me draw something.’ I mean we did napkin sketches and these kinds of things. And they’d say, ‘Well, do you have a business card?’ I’d say, ‘No, but if you leave me yours, I’ll mail you something.’ And, ‘How you going to get it in my backyard?’ ‘I don’t know. We use a tractor on the ranch.’ I mean none of the right answers, but everybody knew and could sense … that we were just these determined kind of redneck hard-working guys.”

That was 1997. Since then the brothers have started their own families and expanded their tree house schematics to include everything from pirate-themed constructions to princess abodes. They started theming restaurants and shooting galleries as well.

“I mean the diversity, it’s insane how many different things and how many crazy things we do,” Ron said. “But it all started back on the ranch taking care of business, and John carving his first carvings, and coming up with this tree house, and a heck of a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, tears, and here we are today.”

Before the recession, Daniels Wood Land served a mostly wealthy clientele. However, as the economy turned south, they repackaged themselves as an outfit for commercial clients. Recent projects have included mini-golf courses, an amusement park, promotional items for Hollywood and a project for MLB player Buster Posey. In three days, the brothers and their team once constructed a replica of the Black Pearl for the DVD release of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was displayed — with a plank ready for fans — on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Another construction: a giant Eddie Murphy head that traveled the country in advance of the movie Meet Dave (Google it!).

In the business, there’s also room for those families who save up a lot of money.

“Today we have consumers from really all walks of life,” Ron said. “And then what’s really touching is we have sometimes families that just kind of band together, and they skimp. And they save their pennies, and the kids do lemonade stands. And dad works overtime, and they scrape. And they do a family effort to buy a tree house because they just want that for their family, and they’re not wealthy people. They’re usually a lot of times, they’re middle-class to upper-middle-class families, but you know a tree house is as American as apple pie. And the tree house sets a stage in a family’s home that is a context to create memories that last a lifetime.”

John said his constructions mostly use recycled hard wood. For the big projects, they turn to the redwood. His goal is to have the tree house last a long time and not rot from extreme weather conditions.

“A long time ago we just used to use whatever the heck we got, and now we use mostly oak, eucalyptus and redwood,” John said. “If a barn falls down, and we reclaim all that wood, 99 percent of the time it’s redwood. … They last lifetimes, and that’s why we use primarily redwoods.”

Ron added: “John likes to carve not only redwood, but there’s another kind of wood out there called sugar pine. It’s a great wood to carve, and we use tons of recycled materials.”

John said he doesn’t mind having the cameras around and having audience members tune in every week. He’s been an ace at the chainsaw for a while and is used to the crowds. “In fact, I probably show off a little bit, so I kind of like having the cameras around,” John said. “To me, it was pretty natural I think because along with showing off carving in front of crowds of people, I was always the class clown growing up in school. So I kind of thrive on the more people the better, the faster I work. The camera just added to that. It’s no different than having 1,000 people watching me, and I dig that stuff. And watching it on TV is fun to see what the kids think.”

These twins are working hard for that customer satisfaction. “The taller the mountain you climb, the more difficult the journey, I guess the more rewarding and more satisfying it is,” Ron said.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Redwood Kings airs 9 p.m. Fridays on Animal Planet. Click here for more information.