Clint Harp From Fixer Upper Just Released a New Memoir

Fans of Fixer Upper know Clint Harp as the trusted carpenter often called upon to make farmhouse tables for Chip and Joanna Gaines. But Clint wants fans to know that he’s much more than that. He started with little more than some advice and a few tools lent to him by his grandfather. With those, he built the successful career he's in today. We talked with him in the video above about his favorite projects and the mentors he met along the way.

Image courtesy of Amazon.

To share more of his story, Clint tells all in his new book Handcrafted, which came out in late 2018. The book, taglined “A woodworker’s story,” is part memoir, part manual. The woodworking tips might be for budding woodworkers, but you don’t have to be skilled with a chisel to listen to what Clint has to say. Since his time on Fixer Upper, Clint Harp has started a successful business, Harp Design Co., with his wife Kelly, landed his own DIY Network show Wood Work, and still manages to find time to work in his shop. Only now he has a few more people helping him craft furniture.

Handcrafted details everything that has led to where he is today with a few reliable woodworking tips along the way. From start to finish, the book took about two and a half years to finish, and seeing his name on the cover fulfilled a dream he’s had for a while.

Related: Fixer Upper's Clint Harp is Returning to HGTV

“I’ve really, truly always wanted to write (a book),” Clint said. “We’re in this world where we feel more connected than ever, and yet loneliness seems like it’s at an all-time high. I wanted to put my story out there because I believe that it’s important for us to share stories, and to be vulnerable with each other. When we do that, I think magical things start to happen.”

As for his life story, everyone knows the tale of Clint meeting Chip Gaines at a gas station. At a time in Clint’s life where he needed a job, Chip and Joanna took a chance on him, and the rest was history. But what people don’t know, is that that’s just one chapter, a sentence even, in Clint’s life.

“I’ve told that story countless times, and it’s an amazing thing,” Clint explained. “But, what I tried to communicate in the book was, as great as that story is, that’s not the story. That’s just part of the story. The real story is the journey that’s happened over my entire life. And that’s why I wrote it down; so that people can see that some of the stuff they’re going through right now has a purpose behind that. There’s a reason, and it’s all going to work out."

Related: 5 Tools Fixer Upper's Chip Gains Swears By

Clint stayed true to his original vision for his book during the four months it took to write. But, there is one key feature that changed.

“It changed titles, but it didn’t change direction much,” Clint said. “The original title was Journeyman. It was pointing out that there’s this amazing thing that’s happened in life, but the journey of it is the real story. Handcrafted seemed to ring a lot better.”

We’d read it no matter what the title, of course. Buy Handcrafted today in stores and online.